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Sustainable

biomass and
bioenergy in the
Netherlands:
Report 2013

[Sustainable biomass and bioenergy in the Netherlands: Report 2013] | [November, 2013]

Colophon
Date
Status

December 2013
Final

This study was carried out in the framework of the Netherlands Programmes
Sustainable Biomass by
Name organisation
Authors

Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University


Chun Sheng Goh, Martin Junginger

Although this report has been put together with the greatest possible care, NL Agency does
not accept liability for possible errors.

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Contact
Netherlands Programmes Sustainable Biomass
Drs. Jobert Winkel and Ir. Kees W. Kwant
NL Agency
NL Energy and Climate Change
The Netherlands
Email: jobert.winkel@agentschapnl.nl; kees.kwant@agentschapnl.nl
www.agentschapNL.nl/biomass
Utrecht University
Chun Sheng Goh and Dr. Martin Junginger
Energy & Resources,
Copernicus Institute, Faculty of Geoscience
Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CD Utrecht
Tel: +31 - 30 - 2537613
Fax: +31 - 30 - 2537601
E-mail: c.s.goh@uu.nl; h.m.junginger@uu.nl

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Executive summary
Methodological conclusion
Data is collected through five sources:
i.
Own data collection directly from the market actors
ii.
Monitoring bodies and general statistics portals
iii.
Trade statistics portals
iv.
Mass balance deductions
v.
Fragmented data, assumptions, and data aggregation
There are five major challenges identified in this study:
A. Data definitions: administrative data versus actual physical data. Data
collected for administrative purpose does not necessary equal to the actual
physical flows due to various administrative reasons. These phenomena are
rather prominent for biofuels, reflected in the discrepancies found between
data reported by different monitoring bodies. The reported consumption of
liquid biofuels may be different from the actual physical situation.
B. Lack of coherent cross-sectoral reporting system. Each reporting system
usually has a very specific scope and interest on certain biomass or specific
products, and seldom covers cross-sectoral flows. Taking liquid biofuels as an
example, although the origin of biofuel was reported, it is not known explicitly
whether the biofuel was produced domestically using imported feedstock, or
imported directly from the feedstock producing country, or imported from a
third country. The timing of production and consumption, and their
relationship with the feedstock flows remain unclear. Overall, the data
consistency of biomass flows still needs improvement, and this requires more
alignment between monitoring bodies from different sectors.
C. Reliability of bilateral trade statistics. Significant discrepancies between
bilateral trade statistics of biomass reported by exporting and importing
countries were noticed, especially for intra-EU trade statistics on the
EUROSTAT portal. Vice versa, reconciliation of the bilateral trade statistics
may cause inconsistency with other data reported in the country. Besides
that, in this study, international trade statistics also shows significant
discrepancies with other data sources. The reasons of these discrepancies are
multi-fold, but similar to those listed in point (A). The situation is even more
complicated in the Netherlands considering the large volume of transshipment
and re-export. Moreover, more than one product might be included under one
CN code.
D. Lack of transparency in biomass supply chain. Currently, the degree of
transparency of supply chain is considered low, not only for bioenergy, but
also conventional biomass chains, with only few companies willing to publicly
identify their biomass suppliers. Most of the companies reports are
incomplete, for example revealing only the percentage of sustainable certified
vegetable oil consumed by a company in its annual sustainability report, but
without giving any concrete information in volumes, origins, destinations and
timing. This is further exacerbated when it comes to the question of
sustainability of biomass, which is regarded as a very sensitive issue to
private companies.
E.

Disparity in sustainability requirements. At present, numerous sustainability


certification schemes are being developed or implemented by a variety of
private and public organisations with different interests, purposes and target
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groups. However, the systems in this wide range of schemes, developed


largely without coordination among the organisations involved, are
incompatible in many aspects, especially the measurement of GHG emission
reduction. There are also differences between schemes applied in different
countries. These disparity in sustainability requirements make the comparison
between supply chains, sectors and countries become difficult.
Overview of sustainability certification of biomass
Table ES-1 shows the market share of sustainability certification schemes in the
Netherlands in 2011 and 2012.
Table ES-1 Market share of sustainability certification schemes in the Netherlands
in 2011 and 2012
Type of biomass

Sustainability
schemes

Woody biomass:
Sawn timber and
wood based panels
(Oldenburger et al.,
2013)
Woody biomass:
Paper and cardboard
(Oldenburger et al.,
2013)
Woody biomass:
Wood pellets used by
utilities (Self
collection)
Oils and fats: Total
vegetable oils
(Taskforce Duurzame
Palmolie, 2013;
RTRS, 2011)*
Carbohydrates:
Grains

FSC
PEFC

Market share (% of certified biomass per


particular products group in the market)
2011
2012
23.7%
Not available
42.0%
Not available

FSC
PEFC

23.9%
8.9%

Not available
Not available

Green Gold Label


Laborelec Label

51.8%
33.5%

50.1%
27.2%

RSPO (Palm oil)


Biofuels (Palm oil)
RTRS (Soy oil)
Biofuels (Soy oil)
Biofuels (Rapeseed)
VVAK
Stichting
Veldleeuwerik
ISCC
2BSvs
RTRS
NTA 8080
Biograce
Others
ISCC
RBSA
REDCert
Others

2.5%
2.7%
0.3%
0.9%
2.6%
Starts in 2013
Starts in 2013

4.3%
20.2%
1.5%
0.0%
1.5%
Not available
Not available

48.4%
4.9%
1.8%
0.0%
0.0%
9.6%
84.0%
3.9%
0.0%
11.1%

55.0%
15.0%
0.0%
10.5%
2.8%
16.7%
92.9%
0.5%
5.3%
1.3%

Biodiesel (on weight


basis) (NEa, 2011;
2012; 2013)

Bioethanol (on weight


basis) (NEa, 2011;
2012; 2013)

* Including vegetable oils used for biofuels production, assuming all of these vegetable oils are certified
with biofuels schemes, but it is not known which schemes are used.
** FSC: Forest Stewardship Council; PEFC: The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification;
VVAK: Voedsel- en Voederveiligheid Akkerbouw; RSPO: The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil; RTRS:
The Round Table on Responsible Soy; ISCC: International Sustainability and Carbon Certification; RBSA:
The RED Bioenergy Sustainability Assurance Standard

Woody biomass
Figure ES-1 shows the mass flow of woody biomass in the Netherlands in 2012.
The Netherlands produced considerable amounts of round wood, but about half of
that was exported. On the other hand, a relatively large amount of sawn wood and
wood panels was imported, mostly originated from adjacent countries (Probos,
2013). There was also a large import of paper and cardboard into the Dutch
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market, but the volume has been declining since 2010. The recycled percentage
has increased from 61% in 2010 to 74% in 2012. However, there was still a large
portion of paper and cardboard could not be separated and end up in waste
incineration. On the other hand, a large amount of wood pellets was consumed by
the utilities, but the consumption has shown a decreasing trend, from 1.59 MT
(1.44 dry MT) in 2010 to 1.05 MT (0.95 dry MT) in 2012. About 90% of the wood
pellets were imported. A considerable amount of woody biomass and paper and
cardboard were also incinerated to generate electricity and heat.

Figure ES-1 Mass balance for woody biomass flows in the Netherlands in 2012
(dry content)
Figure ES-2 depicts the use of certified and non-certified woody biomass in the
Netherlands. The market share of certified wood products (sawn wood and panels)
for non-energy use increased substantially since 2008. The recent focus in this
category is the energy use of woody biomass by utilities, particularly wood pellets.
Most of the certified wood pellets came from Canada, U.S., Baltic States, Russia
and Southern Europe. The amount of certified pellets has dropped significantly in
2012, in line with the overall decline in pellets consumption by the utilities,
especially for the case of Canadian pellets. A few industrial sustainability schemes
are currently available for solid biomass, particularly for wood pellets, but many of
them serve primarily for companies which developed them, such as Green Gold
Label and Laborelec Label. New systems such as NTA 8080 and ISCC PLUS were
not yet being widely applied. The EC is currently in the process of finalizing a set
of sustainability criteria for solid biofuels at the EU level, and it is likely that it will
be comparable to the existing EU-RED criteria for biofuels and liquid biomass.
Meanwhile, the industrial pellet buyers (mainly utilities) are also working together
to develop a harmonized sustainability system for wood pellets, namely IWPB. It is
expected that the harmonized system will comply with the upcoming criteria by
the EC.

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Non-energy use

0.00

1.00

2.00

dry million tonnes


3.00
4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

2010
2011
2012

Energy use

2010
2011
2012
Certified woody biomass entering the Dutch market
Non-certified woody biomass entering the Dutch market
Use of recycled and waste streams
Origins unclear
Figure ES-2 Use of certified and non-certified woody biomass in the Netherlands.
Oils and fats
Figure ES-3 shows the mass flow of oils and fats in the Netherlands in 2012. From
2011 to 2012, the Dutch (net) import has shown a remarkable increase from 0.72
MT to 1.63 MT, owing to the substantial growth of palm-based biofuel production.
In 2012, about 0.78 MT of palm oil was processed for energy purpose (mainly to
HVO), which is almost 10 times of the processed volume in 2011 (MVO, 2013;
Bergmans, 2013). However, as NEa (2013) reported that there is only marginal
consumption of palm-based HVO in the country in 2012, most of these palm-based
HVO is assumed to be exported. On the other hand, there is also a substantial
increase in animal fats import for energy purpose since 2011. The trends are
relatively stable for human consumption, animal consumption and technical
purpose. Figure ES-4 depicts the use of certified and non-certified vegetable oils,
UCO and animal fats, and fatty acids in the Netherlands. To some extent the year
2011 can be regarded as the starting year for the significant use of sustainable
certified vegetable oils in the Dutch market. In this year, the Dutch food and feeds
industry imported the first batch of RTRS (Round Table on Responsible Soy)
certified soy bean. Many Dutch food manufacturers also started to import RSPO
(Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) certified palm oil with ambitious target in the
next few years. It should be noted that this figure takes the assumption that all
vegetable oils used for biofuel production in the Netherlands are 100% sustainable
certified. Data for certified vegetable oils used for biodiesel production in 2010 is
not available. Since there was no mandatory requirement, it is assumed all
vegetable oils used for energy purpose in 2010 were not certified. In 2012, the
use of palm oil for biofuel production has increased substantially, mainly by the
Neste Oil plant in Rotterdam. Neste Oil has increased the use of crude palm oil
certified by either or both RSPO and ISCC in all of its plants up to 91% in 2012
(Neste Oil, 2013). In the Dutch biodiesel market, ISCC is the most popular scheme
with its dominance in most categories, but the application of NTA 8080 and 2BSvs
is also growing remarkably. A large portion of the biofuels falls under double
counting. There is a significant increase in the certification of double counted FAME
in 2012 compared to 2011, mainly certified with ISCC.

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Figure ES-3 Mass balance for oils and fats flows in the Netherlands in 2012 (dry
content)

MT
Biofuel
production (for
domestic use Domestic non-energy
and export)
use

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

2010
2011
2012

2010
2011
2012
Certified vegetable oils
UCO and animal fats

Non-certified vegetable oils


Fatty acids

Figure ES-4 Use of certified and non-certified vegetable oils, UCO and animal
fats, and fatty acids in the Netherlands
* Assuming all biofuels produced since 2011 were certified

Carbohydrates
Figure ES-5 shows the mass flow of carbohydrates in the Netherlands in 2012.
Abengoa Bioenergy's bioethanol plant in Rotterdam that started in September
2010 is the largest single facility in the world. It can produce 480 million litres of
bioethanol (0.38 MT) annually from 1.2 MT of maize or wheat cereal as feedstock.
It also produces 0.36 MT of distilled grains and solubles (DGS) which can be used
an animal feed (Abengoa Bioenergy, 2012). In June 2012, Cargill has also
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reportedly added 380 million litres of annual starch-based ethanol production


capacity to its wheat wet-mill in Bergen op Zoom. The facility can process 0.6 MT
of wheat annually. However, it is not publicly known that how much they produce,
where they source the raw materials and where they sell the bioethanol to.

Figure ES-5 Mass balance for carbohydrates flows in the Netherlands in 2012 (dry
content)
Figure ES-6 depicts the trend of ethanol trade flows. The major suppliers are
American countries. The import of ethanol under the groups CN 22071000 and CN
22072000 have plummeted since 2008. The Brazilian ethanol has also disappeared
in the Dutch market after 2009. Between 2009 2011, there was a steep increase
of US ethanol entering the EU under the code CN 38249707. These products were
found to leave the US as denatured (CN 22072000) or undenatured ethanol (CN
22071000), but most of those exports enter the EU as chemical compound (CN
38249097) with lower tariff (See Section 7.2 for more details). In 2012, these
bioethanol blends was reclassified to the higher tariff rate, and trade of ethanol
from US to Europe will probably decline significantly. However, it is not sure in the
long term how will this impact imports from the US, due to the fact that the EU
domestic production is insufficient even with the anticipated capacity expansion in
2013 and 2014. As shown in the figure, US ethanol has returned to the Dutch
market under CN 22072000 in 2012. The regulated demand in the EU is expected
to raise domestic ethanol prices and will attract bioethanol from the market in
Brazil, the United States or other countries (Flach et al., 2012).
In regards of the certification of bioethanol, ISCC is the most popular scheme, but
the use of RED Cert also grew in 2012.

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400

300

ktonnes

200

100

-100

-200

-300
2008

2009

Brazil (22071000)
Guatemala (22071000)
US (22072000)
EU (22071000)
Other American countries (22071000)

2010

2011

2012

Brazil (22072000)
US (22071000)
US (38249097)*
EU (22072000)
Other American countries (22072000)

ES-6 Ethanol trade balances (net) of the Netherlands for 2008 2012 (ktonnes).
(Source: CBS, 2013)

* Note: Fuel ethanol from US was found registered as 38249097 upon arriving in the EU, but the number
reported under this code may also contain other chemicals.
a. CN 22071000: Undenatured ethyl alcohol of actual alcoholic strength of >= 80%
b. CN 22072000: Denatured ethyl alcohol and other spirits of any strength
c. CN 38249097: Other chemical compounds

Global biomass trade


Figures ES-7 shows the comparison of the EU imports versus global imports of the
selected commodities in 2012. This graph is only meant for indication because
each products may have different composition (e.g. soybean and palm oil are
different in composition). The EU has been a significant importer of most of these
products, and also the largest importer of wood pellets, biodiesel and ethanol.
Figure ES-8 depicts the trend of EU imports in comparison with global trade
volumes of wood pellets, biodiesel and ethanol from 2008 to 2012. Out of the 11
selected products, wood pellets, biodiesel and ethanol have shown significant
changes compared to the others. The import of wood pellet has grown steadily,
but both biodiesel and ethanol have shown different trends.

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90
80
70

MT

60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Other global trade flows*


N.America to EU
S.America to EU

Others to EU
Australia to EU

S.E.Asia to EU
Fmr. Soviet Union to EU

Figure ES-7 EU imports in comparison with global trade volumes for the year
2012. Source: Own calculation based on Figure 6-3 6-12.
* Only estimation due to complexity of indirect trade
** This figure includes the EU import under 382490 from US which is suspected to be ethanol

5
4.5
4
3.5
MT

3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5

2008

2009

2010

2011

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

2012

Note: Purple series at the bottom represent EU imports, light blue series at the top
represent other imports.

Figure ES-8 EU imports in comparison with global trade of wood pellets, biodiesel
and ethanol from 2008 to 2012.
Source: Own calculation based on Figure 6-3 6-12.
* Only estimation due to complexity of indirect trade
** This figure includes the EU import under 382490 from US which is suspected to be ethanol

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Links to DBI/DBM projects


The 26 projects of DBI/DBM target on 18 crops and biomass, i.e. palm oil, soy,
jatropha, sweet sorghum, sugarcane (and panela), algae, cassava, candlenut,
castor, coffee, reed, bamboo, oilseeds in general, rice husk, straw, switchgrass
and waste. Among the these crops, palm oil and soy are the most traded
commodities in the world, whereas other biomass either has relatively small trade
volumes or is not practically traded (e.g. jatropha). The most popular location is
Indonesia, which is also the largest palm oil producer in the world. There are 7
projects on palm oil, 5 in Indonesia, 1 in Columbia and 1 in Sierra Leone. Linking
to the trade flows, more than 30 MT of palm oil was traded in 2012 (the EU
imports amounted to about 6 MT). Indonesia is the biggest supplier. Certified palm
oil started to enter the Dutch market in 2011, and the volume increases from 0.67
MT in 2011 to 0.95 MT in 2012 (assuming all palm oil used for biodiesel production
is certified)(See Figure 4-6). Sugarcane which is closely related to ethanol
production is one of the targeted crops, and is included in 2 DBM projects. The EU
do not import sugar cane in large quantity, but sugar cane ethanol is one of the
important types of biofuels imported. However, the export of sugarcane ethanol to
the EU has dropped significantly in the past few years due to several reasons like
shortage in Brazil and market incentives in the US. Another commodities traded in
large volume, soybean, is also included in 2 of the DBI projects. Instead of
soybean, the EU is rather a big importer of soymeal. Similar to palm oil, the Dutch
market has also started to import certified soybean since 2011. The share of
certified soybean is expected to continue to grow.
The EU Import policies
Trade blocks like the EU have been using import tariffs as common practice to
shield domestic agricultural and biofuel markets from foreign competition. For
liquid biofuels, policy incentives such as tax exemptions and subsidies are granted
to support domestic production, as well as import tariffs to limit imports, often
geared towards the promotion of domestic agricultural and interests.
Biodiesel: In 2009, to stop the splash-and-dash practiced by the US biodiesel
traders, the EU has imposed the import levies against the US biodiesel. The
splash-and-dash effect happened when American producers import pure
biodiesel made somewhere else, blend with 1% of petro-diesel to the fuel
(splash), collect the tax credit ($1 per gallon). After getting the credit, the
tanker could continue to Europe (dash) and receive European fuel tax credits.
Again in May 2013, the EU has decided to impose tariffs on biodiesel from
Argentina and Indonesia, which are basically made of soy and palm oil
respectively. These exporters are punished for allegedly selling biodiesel in the EU
below production cost, i.e. dumping. This is because differential export taxes exist
in Argentina and Indonesia, favoring the production and export of the finished
product biodiesel rather than soybean and palm oil. It is expected that the import
taxes will bring these trade flows to a halt, similar to import of US biodiesel due to
the five-year anti-dumping duties on biodiesel from the US implemented in 2009.
Both Argentinian and Indonesian biodiesel accounted for about 20 percent each in
the EU biodiesel market in 2012.
Bioethanol: The EU maintains a higher tariff for undenatured ethanol than for
denatured ethanol ( 0.192 and 0.102 per litre respectively). The tariffs do not
distinguish between the different uses of ethanol (beverage, fuel, industrial). Many
Member States (excl. the Netherlands) only permit blending with undenatured
ethanol to protect domestic market by the higher tariff rate (Flach, 2013). Since
2009, there was a steep increase of US ethanol entering the EU. These products
were found to leave the US as denatured (CN 22072000) or undenatured ethanol

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(CN 22071000), but most of those exports enter the EU as chemical compound
(CN 38249097) subject to a lower tariff, which is 6.5% of the custom value (or
around 0.035/l) (Junginger et al., 2013). At the EU side (most likely on shore)
petrol is added to the ethanol (the percentage of petrol varies between 10 and 15)
(Vierhout, 2012). This has given big impact to the domestic ethanol producers. To
avoid this, the EU reclassified ethanol blends > 70% as CN 22072000 since 2012
(EC, 2013b). The EC has reportedly communicated that with the new regulation, in
practice all blends will fall under the high tariff rate of denatured ethanol (i.e.
0.102/l). Also, the EU in February 2013 announced that it would impose a $
0.0803/l tariff on US ethanol imports for five years after November 2011
(Junginger et al., 2013).
Agriculture products: In addition to intervention mechanism, the grains market in
EU is also controlled through a system of import duties and quotas. The European
Economic Community (EEC) has sought to foster domestic production and
exportation, and to discourage importation. The EU developed a system where
duties were set on the basis of separate reference prices for six grain types,
including different types of wheat, maize, rye and sorghum. Also, the EU
introduced a system of quotas for imported grains. The duty for imports outside
the quota are subjected to a much higher duty. From January 2012, the quota for
medium and low quality wheat is lowered taking into account of market loss
arising from accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in 2007. Another
example is that the EC has suspended the import duties on certain grains for the
first half of 2013 to ease the pressure on the EU market, especially for animal
feed. On the other hand, trade in whole oilseeds, particularly soybeans, is
relatively unrestricted by tariffs and other border measures, but oilseed meals,
and particularly vegetable oils, typically have higher tariffs. At the moment, the EU
tariffs on oilseeds and on oilseed meals are zero, whereas duties on vegetable oils
(except olive oil) range from 0 to 12.8% (EC, 2013). Together with other trade
policies, these tariffs intend to shift trades toward whole oilseeds and away from
higher value-added oilseed meals and vegetable oils. However, for oilseed meals,
the EU sets the tariff to zero and imports large volume of meals due to high
demand for feed.
Woody biomass: The situation is a bit different for wood, where the exporters play
the crucial role with their trade policies in this arena. The reason could be the high
demand and low supply in wood resources in the EU. For example, the export tariff
rate in Russia has shown a significant impact on the EU import of Russian wood.
Since 2007, the imports of Russian wood has dropped significantly after Russia
implemented export duties to boost domestic wood processing industry. However,
Russia is still the largest supplier of imported wood. Although the amount of
imports is expected to grow in 2012 after Russia has decided to open up a low
export duty quota for spruce and pine and allocate a relatively large share of it to
the EU, however the EU imports from Russia do not increase much yet in 2012
(UN Comtrade, 2013). To the authors knowledge, there are no measures on solid
biofuels like wood pellets on both import and export sides.

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Index
COLOPHON
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ABBREVIATION
1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Project overview and background
1.2 Aims and scope
2
METHODOLOGY
2.1 Scope of study
2.2 Building mass flow diagrams
2.3 Collection and selection of data
2.4 Methodological challenges and conclusions
3
WOODY BIOMASS
3.1 Overview
3.2 Sustainability of woody biomass
3.3 Energy use of woody biomass
4
OILS AND FATS
4.1 Overview
4.2 Sustainability of vegetable oils
4.3 Energy use of oils and fats
5
CARBOHYDRATES
5.1 Overview
5.2 Sustainability of carbohydrates
5.3 Energy use of carbohydrates
6
OVERVIEW OF GLOBAL BIOMASS TRADE FLOWS
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Woody biomass
6.3 Oils and fats
6.4 Carbohydrates
6.5 Links to the DBI/DBM projects by Agency NL
7
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE EU IMPORT POLICIES
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Biofuel
7.3 Agriculture products
7.4 Woody biomass
REFERENCES
APPENDIX I DATA SOURCES
APPENDIX II CN CODE OF BIOMASS
APPENDIX III CONVERSION FACTOR FOR BIOMASS
APPENDIX IV GLOBAL TRADE FLOWS OF BIOFUELS 2008 - 2011

2
4
15
16
16
16
17
17
17
18
20
23
23
28
29
32
32
40
44
47
47
53
54
57
57
60
64
70
74
76
76
76
77
78
79
82
83
84
85

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Abbreviations
CBS

Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (Statistics Netherlands)

CN

Combined nomenclature

COMTRADE

United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database

DBI

The Sustainable Biomass Import programme

DBM

The Global Sustainable Biomass programme

EBB

European Biodiesel Board

EEC

European Economic Community

EUROSTAT

The Statistical Directorate-General of the EC

FAME

Fatty Acid Methyl Ester

FAOSTAT

The Statistics Division of the FAO

GGL

Green Gold Label

GHG

Greenhouse Gas

GSP

Generalized System of Preferences

HVO

Hydro-treated Vegetable Oils

ISCC

International Sustainability & Carbon Certification

IDH

Initiatief Duurzame Handel (Sustainable Trade Initiative)

MVO

The Product Board for Margarine, Fats and Oils

MT

million tonnes

NEa

Dutch Emission Authority

PME

Palm Methyl Esters

RED

Renewable Energy Directive

RSPO

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

RTRS

Round Table on Responsible Soy

SME

Soy Methyl Esters

UCO

Used cooking oil

USDA

United States Department of Agriculture

VVAK

Voedsel- en Voederveiligheid Akkerbouw

WTO

World Trade Organization

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Introduction

1.1

Project overview and background


Between 2010 - 2012, Utrecht University has carried out work for the Sustainable
Biomass Import project of NL Agency with the following aims:
1.
2.

To provide a quantitative and qualitative overview of past and current solid


and liquid biomass import flows, and assess (as far as possible) to what
extent this biomass was produced sustainably; and
To identify trade and market barriers for sustainable biomass in the
Netherlands, and identify possible solutions.

This work has resulted in a first report published in 2010 (Jonker and Junginger,
2010), and an updated report in 2011 (Jonker and Junginger, 2011). In these two
reports, the first objective was achieved with the main focus on the energy use of
biomass, particularly on the trade and consumption of wood pellets, biodiesel and
bio-ethanol in and to the Netherlands. The studies also provide a concise overview
of market development, current trade barriers and the status of sustainability
certification, by conducting a number of interviews with the market actors.
A study on monitoring of (sustainable) biomass flows for various end-uses was
conducted in 2012 to gain insight into the market mechanism and trade dynamics
(Goh and Junginger, 2013). This project has a wider scope (covering both energy
non-energy use of biomass) and uses an extended methodology to assess
quantitatively and qualitatively past and current solid and liquid biomass flows in
the Netherlands, and the share of certified biomass in the market, focusing on
three categories woody biomass, oils and fats, and carbohydrates. A workshop
was also organised on 25 Oct 2012 to discuss the preliminary results to the
experts for confirmation and comments. Likewise in 2013, a workshop will be
organized on 22 December to discuss the latest updated report.
1.2

Aims and scope


This report is largely based on Goh and Junginger (2013), with the latest updates
and additional work. The aims of this study are fourfold:
1. Update of the previous report: This update focuses on analyzing the
trends for 2010-2012, and possibly for 2008-2012 based on data
availability. It pays particular attention to describe the market trends, and
underlying reasons and drivers. Additional data sources will be explored,
for example Port of Rotterdam.
2. Overview of global biomass trade flows: This report also screens large
biomass importers, examines and analyses their trade flows. It also
assesses the trends of these trade flows for 2008-2012.
3. Assessment of the 40 DBI and DBM projects by relating them to the
current global biomass flows
4. A brief description of import policies (tariff) currently applied by the
European Union

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Methodology

2.1

Scope of study
In view of the large diversity in biomass, this study limited the scope to three
main categories: (i) woody biomass; (ii) oils and fats; and (iii) carbohydrates.
Woody biomass includes timber, wood products, paper and cardboard, wood
fuels, and their waste streams. Oils and fats includes oil seeds, vegetable oils,
animal fats, and biofuels (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) and hydrotreated
vegetable oils (HVO)). Carbohydrates includes grains, starch, sugars and
possible connection to bio-ethanol. Only biomass that falls under these three
categories was investigated. This selection was based on three characteristics:
a. they are relatively large streams with clear distinction compared with
other biomass groups;
b. their relevance to the bio-based economy they are either long-chain
polymers (such as starch and lignocellulose) or high-quality monomers
(such as fatty acids and sugars) and have high potential to substitute
fossil materials;
c. they are closely related to bioenergy carriers wood pellets, biodiesel and
bio-ethanol (and also considering their large share in waste streams that
may end up in energy production).
The other biomass categories with large volumes in the Dutch economy, e.g.
flowers, vegetables, fruits, meats, and processed food are not included in the case
study. Nevertheless, waste streams from these biomass might be significant as
bioenergy carriers. Data of these organic biomass in municipal waste streams
usually can be derived at highly aggregated level. However, the framework can
also be expanded to the other biomass categories based on the three
aforementioned criteria. For example, agriculture residues could be very relevant
to countries with large agriculture industry, such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

2.2

Building mass flow diagrams


The framework consists of three dimensions: (i) cross-border input and output
(import and export), (ii) domestic input and output (production and consumption),
and (iii) share of sustainable certified biomass. The results are presented in the
form of mass flow diagrams. The mass flow diagrams was built in three steps:
Step 1: Creating biomass chains and sustainability certification schemes inventory
First, an inventory of biomass supply chains was created. This inventory should
cover as detail as possible inputs of raw materials to secondary, tertiary and end
users and finally releases of materials to environment. Sustainability certification
schemes applied on these chains were also identified based on literature reviews.
Step 2: Setting system boundaries
Due to the relatively broad aims, this monitoring framework is unlikely to cover
the whole life cycle, but largely depends on data availability and feasibility. It
should be noted that the boundaries may change with time as the industry is
developing rapidly. The system boundaries for the three selected categories were
set at different degrees. For woody biomass, the flows of materials can be
identified more clearly due to consistent chemical composition in the stream (little
or without chemical processing), and therefore near to full life cycle of the biomass
can be illustrated (from raw wood to combustion). For oils and fats, the end-uses
were identified as for human consumption, animal consumption, for technical
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purpose and for energy use. For carbohydrates, the biomass was assumed to be
mostly consumed as food and feed, and therefore no further categorization was
made.
Step 3: Quantitative analysis
In the final step, all flows were quantified as detailed as possible. An overview of
data sources are presented in Section 2.3. First, each mass flow was examined
quantitatively in both dimensions (i) and (ii). The flows of the three selected
categories are presented in three different mass flow diagrams. The diagrams
consist of two pairs of axis, where the top and bottom axis indicate import and
export, and the left and right axis indicate domestic input and output of the chain.
All streams were drawn in the ratio to their actual volume (moisture content
should be specified depending on the type of biomass). For countries with huge
transshipment volume due to their trading hub nature, such as the Netherlands,
net trade balances (i.e. net import and export excluding transshipment) can be
used to improve the visualization of mass flows. Finally, dimension (iii) was also
assessed quantitatively as detailed as possible.
2.3

Collection and selection of data


Data quality is the main factor that determines the reliability of the analysis and
therefore needs to be defined explicitly. As no single data source cover all required
information, various data sources were identified and evaluated. When there are
more than one source available, data will be selected based on the following
order:
(i)

Own data collection directly from the market actors: In some extreme
cases, when reliable data of certain important biomass streams is not
available anywhere, data can only be collected directly from industry
in the form of surveys and interviews. Direct information collected
from the industry is regarded as the most reliable first-hand source of
information. However, many companies tend to withhold trade
information to protect their business interest. Own data collection is
considered the most time-consuming and difficult way, and it is only
carried out when the particular flow is of very high importance (i.e.
have high potential to substitute fossil fuels and/or materials) and the
other data sources are not available.

(ii)

Monitoring bodies and general statistics portals: The core data


contributors are usually monitoring bodies and general statistics
portals. A monitoring body can be a governmental department or
agency, an industrial association, or a non-profit institution that
monitors the products mass flows within the country or region. Some
countries may have official general statistics systems that gather data
from these monitoring bodies and/or directly from the industry.
However, in this methodological framework, trade statistics that
collected at customs is separated as another category. The difference
between these two sources can be viewed from two aspects: coverage
and nature. Trade statistics portals capture trade flows at trading
hubs, such as seaports, mainly at international level. Meanwhile
monitoring bodies and general statistics portals may cover the flow of
raw materials in secondary processing, post-processing and postconsumption (i.e. waste and residues) within a country or region. In
terms of data nature, trade statistics is normally actual physical data
(often the monetary values of physical goods) gathered directly from
trading hubs, while monitoring bodies and general statistics portals
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may have various reporting systems that collects data for


administrative purposes which does not necessary equal to the actual
flows at a particular time due to various administrative reasons. A
noticeable example is the consumption data of liquid biofuels that
reported in EU to fulfill mandates. This kind of administrative data
has a policy dimension in the context of carbon mitigation policies, and
therefore has a priority in data selection when there are discrepancies
between data sources. An inadequacy of this data source is that a
monitoring body usually has a very specific scope and interest on
certain biomass or specific products, and seldom covers cross-sectoral
flows.
(iii)

Trade statistics portals: Trade statistics portals covers a large range of


products categorized using Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes. Table
A1 in Appendix listed CN codes for woody biomass, oils and fats, and
carbohydrates. A number of studies on bioenergy trade flows have
been conducted mainly using trade statistics. 2, 5-8 This type of effort
is often fraught with difficulties in differentiating the actual flows given
that a number of different trade codes may be applied on similar
products based on small differences in product nature, but they do not
differentiate the end-uses of the materials explicitly. For example,
ethanol can be imported under several different CN codes in different
forms and blending level, but it is not known how much has actually
used for energy purpose. Nevertheless, the CN system has been
continuously improved, for example a new code is introduced for
energy pellets in recent years. Furthermore, trade statistics portals do
not distinguish sustainable certified materials from general products.
Another weakness is that there are significant discrepancies between
bilateral trade statistics reported by exporting and importing countries
due to differences in timing, level of details and classification. 5,9 In
this work, data reported by the case study country was given priority,
to ensure a consistent set of data is used when trade flows are linked
to biomass flows within the country.

(iv)

Mass balance deductions: This category is placed at higher order than


(v) when the base data comes from (i), (ii) and (iii). Volume of certain
streams such as by-products, waste and recycling streams can be
deducted through mass balance calculations. Indicators from scientific
literature can be used to complete the calculations. An example is the
use of ratio method in derivation of glycerol flows, using the ratio of
glycerol to monoalkyl esters proposed by scientific literature.

(v)

Fragmented data, assumptions, and data aggregation: Data may also


be found scattered in many public available sources, such as press
releases, news, reports by companies or other organizations, and
scientific literature. These pieces of information mostly come in
fragments, lack of comprehensive descriptions and definitions. To
complete the picture, assumptions can be made based on information
fragments, related facts, extra- or interpolation, and other appropriate
ways. For example, the sustainable share of certain biomass streams
in the Dutch market might be assumed equal to that of in the
European market, as the country possess the largest trading hub in
Europe with very active and complex intra-European trade, making
identifying the final destination of sustainable products extremely
difficult. The drawback of this data source is that it often lacks of
scientific justification and consistency, and therefore it is ranked lower.
Ultimately, if there are still some missing details in the mass flow
diagram, streams or part of the chain that data is not available at high
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level of details can be merged to increase the efficiency of the study.


For example, paper and cardboard were not separated into individual
streams but considered as one general product group, as the specific
type and volume of paper and cardboard recycled or combusted is
unknown. Besides that, for streams with less distinction and small
volumes, such as different forms of wheat powder can also be grouped
together to improve the visualization. However, the conditions might
change from one case study to another, depending on specific
objectives.
The list above shows that there are many discrete analyses and data available, but
mostly in different forms, and not every single biomass flows are monitored. The
main idea of this framework is to overcome these challenges by matching all data
together, supplementing each other to illustrate the big picture of biomass flows.
When there are more than one set of data available, only data with the highest
rank will be used. Harmonization of data should be performed to ensure a
consistent set of metrics when data comes in different units, such as volume,
mass, energy, and monetary values. Appendix III shows the conversion factors for
biomass, as well as moisture contents. All units should be harmonized to a
consistent unit, e.g. MT (MT) in this study to give meaningful comparisons.
2.4

Methodological challenges and conclusions


Five major challenges were identified through this work:
A. Data definitions: administrative data versus actual physical data
Data collected for administrative purpose does not necessary equal to the actual
physical flows due to various administrative reasons:
using definitions different from the CN codes,
using different definitions between organizations,
using different definitions as the administrative rules change over time,
delayed or early reporting,
considerations of indirect trade flows (administratively reporting the
origins of goods as either where the goods are produced, or where the
goods are imported from through re-export/transshipment),
other internal or external considerations
These phenomena are rather prominent for biofuels, reflected in the discrepancies
found between data reported by different monitoring bodies. The reported
consumption of liquid biofuels may be different from the actual physical situation.
First, for administrative purpose, companies are allowed to carry over their
physical efforts to later years. Second, companies may administratively allocate a
low blend biofuels to the Dutch market, but physically (part of) this low blend is
exported. For comparison, CBS reported biodiesel consumption at 0.11 MT and
0.20 MT (in 2010 and 2011 respectively), whereas the monitoring body NEa
reported 0.10 MT and 0.29 MT (in 2010 and 2011 respectively). Sustainability of
biomass and bioenergy is important in the context of carbon mitigation policies.
This phenomenon causes potential barriers to assessment of GHG emission
reduction at sectoral or national level especially when it involves large trade
volumes consist of both sustainable certified and non-certified biomass. The risk of
confusion seems very high due to data inconsistency between countries and
sectors when different reporting systems are employed.
B. Lack of coherent cross-sectoral reporting system

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Each reporting system usually has a very specific scope and interest on certain
biomass or specific products, and seldom covers cross-sectoral flows. Taking liquid
biofuels as an example, although the origin of biofuel was reported, it is not known
explicitly whether the biofuel was produced domestically using imported feedstock,
or imported directly from the feedstock producing country, or imported from a
third country. The timing of production and consumption, and their relationship
with the feedstock flows remain unclear. This has resulted in the unknown
composition of biodiesel flow in Figure 4-1 to 4-3 where grey colour was used,
because it cannot be matched with data from the oils and fats sector. On top of
that, it also causes difficulty to deduct the sustainable share of biomass flows
across sectors. Although in the Netherlands some monitoring bodies that cover
conventional use of biomass such as MVO (oils and fats) and Probos (woody
biomass) have started to include energy use of biomass in their reports, again this
is fraught with the same problems in point (A). Overall, the data consistency of
biomass flows still needs improvement, and this requires more alignment between
monitoring bodies from different sectors.
C. Reliability of bilateral trade statistics
Significant discrepancies between bilateral trade statistics of biomass reported by
exporting and importing countries were noticed, especially for intra-EU trade
statistics on the EUROSTAT portal. To ensure a more consistent set of data is
used, data reported by the case study country was given priority to match with
other data collected in the country, but this will lead to different results between
country analyses. Vice versa, reconciliation of the bilateral trade statistics may
cause inconsistency with other data reported in the country. Besides that, in this
study, international trade statistics also shows significant discrepancies with other
data sources: For the case of the Netherlands, discrepancies were found in the
case of wood pellets when comparing Eurostat with own data collection (directly
from the industry), showing differences in net trade balance up to 55 ktonnes per
country for the year 2011. The reasons of these discrepancies are multi-fold, but
similar to those listed in point (A). The situation is even more complicated in the
Netherlands considering the large volume of transshipment and re-export. Various
efforts have been made to understand and reconcile the discrepancies in general
trade statistics. For bioenergy, a few studies have pointed out that the current CN
codes do not differentiate the end-use purposes of the materials between energy
use and raw material use. Moreover, more than one product might be included
under one CN code. A prominent example is ethanol which is used as
transportation fuel and for raw material purposes in the chemical industry. Ethanol
is categorized under several different CN codes based on its forms and blending
level but not the end uses.
D. Lack of transparency in biomass supply chain
One of the biggest barrier to overcome is the transparency of biomass flows.
Currently, the degree of transparency of supply chain is considered low, not only
for bioenergy, but also conventional biomass chains, with only few companies
willing to publicly identify their biomass suppliers. Most of the companies reports
are incomplete, for example revealing only the percentage of sustainable certified
vegetable oil consumed by a company in its annual sustainability report, but
without giving any concrete information in volumes, origins, destinations and
timing. Companies tend to withhold information (particularly trade information) to
protect their business interest. This is further exacerbated when it comes to the
question of sustainability of biomass, which is regarded as a very sensitive issue to
private companies. Nevertheless, in the Netherlands, the reporting of liquid
biofuels consumption is getting more transparent, as more details were revealed
in 2012 compared 2011. However, the actual situation of liquid biofuels production
in the country remains unclear. There is no public available knowledge on actual
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sources of feedstock (for bioethanol production) and supply destinations (for both
bioethanol and biodiesel production), resulting in a few speculative streams in
Figure 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 5-2 and 5-3 (illustrated in grey). On the other hand, the solid
biofuels users will also have to report annually to the government the amount of
biomass they use and how sustainability is demonstrated via certification or
verification systems. However, the level of details of this reporting system will only
be revealed when the report is published.
E. Disparity in sustainability requirements
At present, numerous sustainability certification schemes are being developed or
implemented by a variety of private and public organisations with different
interests, purposes and target groups. While there are many years of experience
for certification of woody biomass with sustainable forestry management schemes,
it is worthwhile to point out that in 2011, the sustainability certification of solid
biofuels, liquid biofuels and vegetable oils for human consumption has significantly
increased. However, the systems in this wide range of schemes, developed largely
without coordination among the organisations involved, are incompatible in many
aspects, especially the measurement of GHG emission reduction. For example,
industrial schemes for wood pellets do take GHG emission measurement along the
supply chain into account, but sustainable forest management schemes do not.
Similarly, certification of vegetable oils used for biofuels production does employ
the RED criteria but certification of vegetable oils used in food sectors does not.
There are also differences between schemes applied in different countries. These
disparity in sustainability requirements make the comparison between supply
chains, sectors and countries become difficult.

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Woody biomass

3.1

Overview
This chapter covers (almost) all woody biomass flows in the Netherlands, including
timber, processed woods, paper and cardboard, furniture and energy use of woody
biomass.
Figure 3-1, 3-2 and 3-3 illustrates the flows of woody biomass in the Netherlands
in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The box in the middle of the diagram indicating wood
products represents storage of woody biomass in the form of buildings, furniture,
and other types of wood products that are non-consumable or not short-lived. The
Netherlands produced considerable amounts of round wood, but about half of that
was exported. On the other hand, a relatively large amount of sawn wood and
wood panels was imported, mostly originated from adjacent countries (Probos,
2013). The country was the second largest EU consumer of tropical wood in 2011.
The majority of the tropical sawn wood timber imported originates from Malaysia,
Brazil, Indonesia and Cameroon.
There was also a large import of paper and cardboard into the Dutch market, but
the volume has been declining since 2010. The recycled percentage has increased
from 61% in 2010 to 74% in 2012. However, there was still a large portion of
paper and cardboard could not be separated and ended up in waste incineration.
Note that about 50% of paper and cardboard was imported products which may
also be produced from recycled materials.
A large amount of wood pellets was consumed by the utilities, but the
consumption has shown a decreasing trend, from 1.59 MT (1.44 dry MT) in 2010
to 1.05 MT (0.95 dry MT) in 2012. About 90% of the wood pellets were imported.
A considerable amount of woody biomass and paper and cardboard were also
incinerated to generate electricity and heat. See more details about energy use of
woody biomass in Section 3.3.
Table 3-1 shows the data sources for this category. See Section 2.3 for the
description of data sources (i) (v).
Table 3-1 Data sources for Woody biomass
Woody biomass
For the year 2010-2011, data for Consumed by the
utilities (co-firing) was collected from the utilities directly
through surveys, together with the share of certified woody
biomass in this stream, and was cross-checked with
literature (e.g. Essent, 2011). For 2012, data of woody
biomass co-firing was collected by Agentschap NL (2013).
This data was then compared with CBS (2013b) to deduce
the amount of non-woody biomass (assuming NCV at 15
MJ/kg) co-fired in power plants. Also as a comparison, data
was also available on trade statistics with CN code CN
44013020 but without the share of sustainable certified
biomass. However, the intra-EU trade data is highly
inconsistent from this source, and therefore was not used.
For 2010-2011, data for Combustion in BECs and other
small installations was collected from CBS (2013) and
personal communication with Reinoud Segers, Statistical
Researcher at CBS. Biomass Energy Centres (BECs) are
stand-alone biomass combustion plants. For 2012 data was
taken from Agetnschap NL (2013).
Data for Heat boilers for companies was taken from CBS

i
x

ii

iii

iv

v
x

x
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(2013b), assuming 60% of the biomass used by these heat


boilers comes from fresh waste wood, as 60% of the
boilers were used in wood processing companies. The rest
largely comes from agriculture sector, and therefore is not
shown here (personal communication with Reinoud Segers,
Statistical Researcher at CBS).
Data for Waste Incineration was calculated based on
direct information from Agentschap NL (2011) with a rough
estimation of biogenic components in municipal and
household waste streams made in 1995. However, the
quantity of recycled paper and cardboard was also
provided by Probos (2011; 2012; 2013), which was used
to complete the recycling loop. Therefore, for paper and
cardboard, the incinerated amount was calculated by
calculating mass balance based on Probos figures,
assuming no storage of paper and cardboard (consumption
= production + import).
Data for Wood stoves for households was taken from CBS
(2013), assuming 1/6 of wood used was Waste wood,
and the rest were round fuel woods that might originated
from forest residues, gardens residues, old fruit trees,
public
trees
from
parks
and
streets
(personal
communication with Reinoud Segers, Statistical Researcher
at CBS). The moisture content was assumed to be 30%.
The input streams to Waste wood (A, B, C wood) from
Wood products was derived through mass balance by
assuming no export of waste wood. It does not include
residues from forests, gardens and parks. Export of Waste
wood (A, B, C wood) was not shown as data was not
available. As a reference, waste wood export in 2007 was
1.16 MT (about 0.76 MT for energy purpose) (Goh et al.,
2012).
Data for Furniture was taken from CBS (2013) using
selected CN Codes 94036090; 94036010; 94035000;
94016100 ; 94039030; 94016900; 94019080; 94034090.
Assuming moisture content at 15%.
Data for the other streams was taken from Probos (2011;
2012; 2013). Assuming density of wood = 0.7 tonnes/m3.
It should be noted that Proboss data also relies on CBS
trade statistics. Data for the share of certified woody
biomass for non-energy use was also taken from
Oldenburger et al. (2013). Figures for 2010 and 2012 were
estimated using interpolation of data points, based on
figures for 2008 and 2011.
Due to absence of data, both consumption and export
streams of paper and cardboard were assumed to have a
same percentage of recycled products.

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Figure 3-1 Mass balance for woody biomass flows in the Netherlands in 2010 (dry content)

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Figure 3-2 Mass balance for woody biomass flows in the Netherlands in 2011 (dry content)

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Figure 3-3 Mass balance for woody biomass flows in the Netherlands in 2012 (dry content)

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3.2

Sustainability of woody biomass


Table 3-2 shows the share of sustainability certified woody biomass in the
Netherlands in 2011. In 2012 only data for wood pellets is available. It is expected
that the share of certified wood products will grow further steadily. The use of
woody biomass can be divided into two main markets based on end-uses:
Non-energy use: The market share of certified wood products (sawn wood and
panels) for non-energy use has increased from 33.5% in 2008 to 65.7% in 2011
(23.7% FSC certified and 42% PEFC certified) (Oldenburger et al., 2013). In 2011,
sawn softwood recorded the highest certified percentage: 86% of the market
volume (46% in 2008), as most of this sawn softwood came from countries where
60 - 97% of the forest area was certified. About 57% of the certified sawn timber
and 73% of the certified wood based panels was consumed by the construction
sector and civil engineering. On the other hand, the share of certified paper and
paperboard in the Dutch market has increased to 32.8% in 2011. Most of the
paper and cardboard consumed in the Netherlands was separated for recycling
purposes. However, there was still a large portion of woody biomass and paper
and cardboard could not be separated and end up in waste incineration.
Energy use: The recent focus in this category is the energy use of woody biomass
by utilities, particularly wood pellets. Figure 3-4 shows the origins and the share of
sustainable certified biomass used by utilities. Data of certified wood pellets were
collected directly from the industry for 2011 (by UU) and 2012 (by AgNL). Most of
the certified wood pellets came from Canada, U.S., Baltic States, Russia and
Southern Europe. In 2011, Essent has consumed 0.62 MT GGL certified wood
pellets alone in the Amer power plant (Essent, 2012). The amount of certified
pellets has dropped significantly in 2012, in line with the overall decline in pellets
consumption by the utilities, especially for the case of Canadian pellets.
Table 3-2 Market share of sustainability certification schemes for woody biomass
in the Netherlands in 2011
Type of biomass

Sustainability schemes

Woody biomass: Sawn


timber and wood based
panels (Oldenburger et al.,
2013)
Woody biomass: Paper and
cardboard (Olderburger et
al., 2013)
Woody biomass: Wood
pellets used by utilities
(Self collection;
Agentschap NL, 2013)

FSC
PEFC

Market share (% of certified biomass


per particular products group in the
market)
23.7%
42.0%

FSC
PEFC

23.9%
8.9%

Green Gold Label


Laborelec Label

51.8% (50.1% in 2012)


33.5% (27.2% in 2012)

A few industrial sustainability schemes are currently available for solid biomass,
particularly for wood pellets, but many of them serve primarily for companies
which developed them, such as Green Gold Label and Laborelec Label. New
systems such as NTA 8080 and ISCC PLUS were not yet being widely applied. The
EC is currently in the process of finalizing a set of sustainability criteria for solid
biofuels at the EU level, and it is likely that it will be comparable to the existing
EU-RED criteria for biofuels and liquid biomass. Meanwhile, the industrial pellet
buyers (mainly utilities) are also working together to develop a harmonized
sustainability system for wood pellets, namely IWPB. It is expected that the
harmonized system will comply with the upcoming criteria by the EC.

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Figure 3-5 shows the share of sustainable certified woody biomass in the Dutch
market. Use of waste and recycled streams include all waste wood, waste
incinerations and recycled paper and cardboard. Origins unclear indicates round
fuel wood used in household wood stoves. Certified- and non-certified woody
biomass entering the Dutch market include all woody biomass excluding the
aforementioned two categories. A significant change across 2010-2012 would be
the increase of certified woody biomass for energy purpose.
3.3

Energy use of woody biomass


As shown in Figure 3-4, the utilities has decreased significantly their consumption
of wood pellets in 2012, amounted to 1.05 MT (0.95 dry MT) compared with 1.59
MT (1.44 dry MT) in 2010 and 1.35 MT (1.22 dry MT) in 2011. This is probably
caused by the end of most of the MEP grants in the period 2012-2014.
Nevertheless, wood pellet is still the largest group of solid biofuels consumed by
the utilities in the Netherlands. Canada was the largest supplier in 2010, but was
overtaken by US in 2011, and the gap become even larger in 2012. The import
from Southern Europe has doubled in 2011 compared to 2010, but dropped again
in 2012.
In addition to co-firing in power plants, the waste wood, mainly treated B-wood
(painted, chipboard and etc.) and C-wood (including sleepers) were consumed for
energy generation in three main Bioenergie Centrale (BEC) in Alkmaar, Twente
and Rotterdam (CBS, 2012c). Wood chips and other woody biomass were also
used but in a relatively low amount (CBS, 2012c). Most of these woody biomass
are sourced domestically.
During the last few years, wood-burning stoves in private households are used
more and more as a sustainable heat source (see Figure 3-1,2,3). Expectations
are that wood consumption in private wood-burning stoves will remain stable in
the coming years. The main source is locally collected wood from tree felling. A
second source of household wood is waste wood from forest maintenance (Goh et
al., 2012).
In the Netherlands, relatively large amount of total woody biomass, paper and
cardboard ended up in waste incineration (see Figure 3-1,2,3). About half of the
biomass (by mass basis) incinerated are non-woody organic compounds, followed
by paper and cardboard, woody and other biomass. However, data presented is
rough estimation and these biomass may still contain significant amount of nonbiomass portion which is difficult to differentiate. New waste incineration plants
were commissioned in Delfzijl in 2010 and in Harlingen in 2011, which are
connected to industry use. Installations in Hengelo, Dordrecht and Roosendaal
were also expanded in 2010 and 2011. At present, there is still unused incinerator
capacity, which induced import of household waste from Germany, the United
Kingdom and Italy (CBS, 2012b).

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0.7
Liquid biomass (direct from primary agriculture)
Non-wood biomass (unknown)
Other non-woody biomass
Non-wood biomass (coming from agro-processing industry)
Non-wood biomass (direct from primary agriculture)
Other woody biomass
Waste wood
Biocoal
Non-certified wood chips
Certified wood chips
Non-certified wood pellets
Certified wood pellets

0.6

0.5

MT

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

Domestic

Canada

US

Oceania

Western Europe Baltic states and Southern Europe


Russia

South Africa

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

Others /
Unknown

Figure 3-4 Biomass co-fired by the Dutch utilities in 2010 -2012 (Source: Surveys with the utilities; Essent, 2011; Agentschap NL, 2013; CBS,
2013)

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0.00

1.00

2.00

dry million tonnes


3.00
4.00

5.00

6.00

Non-energy use

2010

2011

2012

Energy use

2010

2011

2012

Certified woody biomass entering the Dutch market

Non-certified woody biomass entering the Dutch market

Use of recycled and waste streams

Origins unclear

Figure 3-5 Use of certified and non-certified woody biomass in the Netherlands.

Pagina 31 van 87

7.00

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Oils and fats

4.1

Overview
This chapter covers oils and fats in the Netherlands. It covers oil seeds, vegetable
oils, animal fats and biofuels (mainly FAME and hydro-treated vegetable oils
(HVO)). Due to the fact that oils and fats are mainly used in food industries and
processed with other materials, causing the mass flows highly complex, the mass
balance is limited to only primary material flows.
Figure 4-1, 4-2 and 4-3 show the mass balance for oils and fats flows in the
Netherlands in 2010-2012. Different from woody biomass, the top and bottom axis
indicate net import and net export instead of actual volume, to avoid the diagram
become overcrowded with the large volume of vegetable oils transshipment. As
shown in the figures, soy bean has the largest mass flow in this group. Strictly
speaking, soy is not primarily an oil crop but used mainly as a protein source.
Therefore, a relatively small portion of oil is produced while most of the mass
remained as meal after processing, mainly used as animal feeds. Palm oil
(including palm kernel oil) has been the largest oil source followed by rapeseed oil,
soy oil and sunflower oil. Figure 4-4 summarizes the consumption trends of oils
and fats for different purposes. The total consumption shows a steady increase
until 2011, and an extraordinary surge in 2012. From 2011 to 2012, the Dutch
(net) import has shown a remarkable increase from 0.72 MT to 1.63 MT, owing to
the substantial growth of palm-based biofuel production (see Figure 4-6). In 2012,
about 0.78 MT of palm oil was processed for energy purpose (mainly to HVO),
which is almost 10 times of the processed volume in 2011 (MVO, 2013; Bergmans,
2013). The volume of crude palm oil converted to HVO by Neste Oil increased
significantly in 2012 (globally from about 0.4 MT in 2011 to 1.4 MT) as a result of
the companys increased refining capacity to a total of 2.1 MT, of which the
Rotterdam plant accounted for 0.8 MT (Neste Oil, 2013). However, as NEa (2013)
reported that there is only marginal consumption of palm-based HVO in the
country in 2012, most of these palm-based HVO is assumed to be exported. On
the other hand, there is also a substantial increase in animal fats import for
energy purpose since 2011 (see Section 4.3 for more details on biofuels
consumption in the Netherlands). The trends are relatively stable for human
consumption, animal consumption and technical purpose.
Figure 4-5 presents the trade flow of monoalkylesters, oil seeds and oils & fats by
country or region. In 2012, the import bounced back to the same level as in 2009.
The connection between monoalkylesters trade flows and biodiesel trade flows is
not entirely clear; it is assumed in this study that monoalkylesters trade flows are
the main components of biodiesel flows. A code that covers fatty-acid monoalkyl
esters (FAME) with an ester content >96.5%vol was introduced in 2008
(38249091), and changed in 2012 (38260010). A new code is also used in
parallel, 38260090 that represents biodiesel which contains less than 70 % by
weight of fossil fuels. However, other forms of biodiesel could still enter under
other codes depending on the chemical composition. Diesel with a biodiesel
component of less than 30% can also enter the EU under chapter 271020 at a
tariff rate of 3.5 percent (Flach et al., 2013). However, from the statistics, the
import to the Netherlands under this code is near to zero in 2012, but there is a
remarkable volume exported to the EU and even Asia (the Asian countries are
unknown). Trade of biodiesel is further discussed in Section 4.3. On the other
hand, no significant changes for net import of oil seeds, except for the trade with
the EU. The EU has been a net importer of oil seeds from the Netherlands except
for the year 2011. The net export of oil seeds to the EU has increased impressively
in 2012 to about 1 MT. For oils and fats, as mentioned earlier, a massive increase
in palm oil import is observed, and they are mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia.

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Table 4-1 shows the data sources for this chapter by types of sources. See Section
2.3 for the description of data sources (i) (v).
Table 4-1 Data sources for Oils and fats
Data sources
Data for most of the oils and fats mass flows was taken from
MVO (2013) unless otherwise stated. This includes
production data of the companies which are connected to
MVO.
The EU standard moisture content is 14% for soya beans
(EUROSTAT, 2013). Nevertheless, according to a report by
U.S. Soybean Export Council (Guinn, 2013), dependent upon
end use and ambient storage condition, there is a range of
recommended moisture contents considered safe for storage
(11- 13%). The EU standard moisture content will be 9% for
rapeseeds, sunflower seeds, linseeds and cottonseeds
(EUROSTAT, 2013). For soy meals, moisture content is
assumed at 12% (Guinn, 2013).
Data for monoalkylesters, oil seeds, oils and fats trade flows
by countries was taken from CBS (2013) with CN code listed
in Appendix II. These data are collected by close cooperation
between MVO and CBS. Monoalkylesters was assumed to be
equivalent to biodiesel. However, CN 271020 is not included
because the content of biodiesel is low (<30%) and
unknown. Trade flows of meals of soybean and other
oilseeds are taken from CBS according to Table A1.
Data for production of biodiesel (oils and fats used for
energy purpose) was collected from MVO (2013) and CBS
(2013). MVO data was selected due to the level of details
(types of feedstock) and also data consistency across the
mass flows of whole category. MVO reported 0.29, 0.55 and
1.27 MT of oils and fats consumption for biodiesel
production, while CBS (2013b) reported 0.38, 0.49, and
1.18 MT of biodiesel production volume, respectively for the
three consecutive years.
Data for consumption of biodiesel was taken from NEa
(2011, 2012), by assuming the heating value of FAME at 37
MJ/kg and HVO at 44 MJ/kg. There were discrepancies
between CBS (2013) and NEa data for biodiesel: CBS
reported physical consumption, whereas NEa published
administrative data. Physical data was different from
administrative data, because (i) companies were allowed to
administratively carry over their physical efforts to later
years; (ii) it was still unclear whether book and claim is used
for the NEa reports after creating low blends - this implies
that companies may create a low blend, administratively
allocate this low blend to the Dutch market, whereas
physically (part of) this low blend is exported. As a
comparison, for the three consecutive years, CBS (2013b)
reported consumption of 0.11, 0.20 and 0.23 MT,
respectively, whereas NEa reported 0.10, 0.29 and 0.26 MT,
respectively.
The flows of biodiesel do not tally by combining trade data of
monoalkylesters and biodiesel from CBS, production and
consumption from MVO and NEa. A net difference of 1.28 MT
(export) was obtained through simple mass balance
calculation. This flow was categorized as Other biofuels

ii
x

iii

iv

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export, which may include different blends and also hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO). Data for the trade of HVO is
not known, therefore it is calculated based on mass balance.
The CN number (customs tariff number) of NExBTL
renewable diesel is 27101941. It has been granted in
summer 2009 and is valid for the next 6 years. Diesel fuel
has the same CN code 27101941 (Taric code 2710194120).
It is not possible to measure the amount of bio-content
through trade statistics with 8-digits trade code.
Data for glycerol was taken from CBS (2013) with CN code
CN 15200000, 38249055, and 29054500. Also assuming 1
kg of glycerol is produced as by-products of 10 kg of
biodiesel production (own estimation).
Data for sustainable vegetable oils for food sector was taken
from Taskforce Duurzame Palmolie (2013) and RTRS for soy
bean (RTRS, 2011; IDH, 2013). An assumption was made
that all vegetable oils used for biodiesel production in the
Netherlands are 100% sustainable certified (to comply with
the RED criteria set by the EC). Data for certified vegetable
oils used for biodiesel production in 2010 is not available.
Since there was no mandatory requirement, it is assumed all
vegetable oils used for energy purpose was not certified in
2010.
Trade statistics of monoalkylesters, oil seeds and oils and
fats trade flows (net by regions) for the Netherlands from
2008 2011 was collected from CBS (2013)

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Figure 4-1 Mass balance for oils and fats flows in the Netherlands in 2010 (dry content)

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Figure 4-2 Mass balance for oils and fats flows in the Netherlands in 2011 (dry content)

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Figure 4-3 Mass balance for oils and fats flows in the Netherlands in 2012 (dry content)

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Human consumption Vegetable oils


Human consumption Animal fats & UCO
Technical consumption Vegetable oils
Technical consumption Animal fats & UCO
Technical consumption Fatty acids
Animal consumption Vegetable oils
Animal consumption Animal fats & UCO
Animal consumption Fatty acids
Energy consumption Vegetable oils
Energy consumption Animal fats & UCO
Energy consumption Fatty acids

2007

2008

Year

2009

2010

2011

2012

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

MT

1.4

Figure 4-4 Consumptions of oils and fats for different purposes (Source: MVO, 2013)
Note 1: Animal fats include UCO
Note 2: Energy consumption includes biodiesel produced for both domestic use and export

Pagina 38 van 87

1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

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6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0

MT

-1.0
-2.0

2008
EU
Malaysia (Palm oil)
Paraguay (Soy)
Asia

2009

2010
US (Soy)
Brazil (Soy)
Uruguay (Soy)
Others

2011

Oils and Fats (CN 12)

CN 271020xx

Oil seeds (CN 15)

CN 38260090

CN 38260010

Oil seeds (CN 15)

Oils and Fats (CN 12)

CN 38249091

Oils and Fats (CN 12)

CN 38249091

Oil seeds (CN 15)

Oils and Fats (CN 12)

Oil seeds (CN 15)

CN 38249091

Oils and Fats (CN 12)

Oil seeds (CN 15)

CN 38249091

-3.0

2012
Indonesia (Palm oil)
Canada (Soy)
Argentina (Soy)

Figure 4-5 Monoalkylesters, oil seeds and oils & fats trade flows (net by regions)
for the Netherlands from 2008 2011 (MT) (Source: CBS, 2012a)
a. Countries with small net trade volumes were omitted
b. CN 12xxxxxx: Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits
c. CN 15xxxxxx: Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products; prepared animal fats;
animal or vegetable waxes
d. CN 38249091: Monoalkylesters of fatty acids, with an ester content of 96.5%vol or more esters
(FAMAE) (for 2008 2011)
e. CN 38260010: Monoalkylesters of fatty acids, with an ester content of 96.5%vol or more esters
(FAMAE) (for 2012)
f. CN 38260090: Biodiesel and mixtures thereof, not containing or containing less than 70 % by weight of
petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals.
g. CN 271020xx: Diesel, fuel oil, oils, containing>= 70% weight of petroleum oils or oils obtained from
bituminous minerals, containing biodiesel.
h.Others is derived from the balance of world total net flow

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4.2

Sustainability of vegetable oils


Figure 4-6 shows the share of certified vegetable oils in the Netherlands in 2011.
Figure 4-7 shows the use of certified and non-certified vegetable oils, UCO and
animal fats, and fatty acids in the Netherlands. To some extent the year 2011 can
be regarded as the starting year for the significant use of sustainable certified
vegetable oils in the Dutch market. In this year, the Dutch food and feeds industry
imported the first batch of RTRS (Round Table on Responsible Soy) certified soy
bean. Many Dutch food manufacturers also started to import RSPO (Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil) certified palm oil with ambitious target in the next few
years. It should be noted that this figure takes the assumption that all vegetable
oils used for biofuel production in the Netherlands are 100% sustainable certified.
Data for certified vegetable oils used for biodiesel production in 2010 is not
available. Since there was no mandatory requirement, it is assumed all vegetable
oils used for energy purpose in 2010 were not certified. In 2012, the use of palm
oil for biofuel production has increased substantially, mainly by the Neste Oil plant
in Rotterdam. Neste Oil has increased the use of crude palm oil certified by either
or both RSPO and ISCC in all of its plants up to 91% in 2012 (Neste Oil, 2013).
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

2011

2012

Certified palm oil (food)

Certified palm oil (used for biofuel)

Non-certified palm oil

Certified soy oil (food)

Certified soy oil (used for biofuel)

Non-certified soy oil

Certified rapeseed oil (used for biofuell)

Non-certified rapeseed oil

Non-certified other vegetable oils


Figure 4-6 Share of certified vegetable oils processed in the Netherlands in 2011
and 2012
Table 4-2 shows the market share of sustainability of various oils and fats
products. The amount of palm oil used for energy production has increased
substantially in 2012. Assuming all of these are certified, the share of certified
vegetable oils becomes more than half in 2012. For biodiesel consumption in the
country, ISCC certified biodiesels remain as the largest group. The share of 2BSvs
and NTA 8080 also shows significant growths.

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Table 4-2 Market share of sustainability certification schemes for oils and fats in
the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012
Type of biomass

Sustainability
schemes

Market share (% of certified biomass per


particular products group in the market)
2011
2012
Oils and fats: Total
RSPO (Palm oil)
6.7%
9.1%
vegetable oils
Biofuels (Palm oil)
7.1%
41.8%
(Taskforce Duurzame
RTRS (Soy oil)
1.4%
3.1%
Palmolie, 2013;
Biofuels (Soy oil)
2.3%
0.0%
RTRS, 2011)*
Biofuels (Rapeseed)
6.9%
3.1%
Biodiesel (on weight
ISCC
48.4%
55.0%
basis) (NEa, 2011;
2BSvs
4.9%
15.0%
2012; 2013)
RTRS
1.8%
0.0%
NTA 8080
0.0%
10.5%
Biograce
0.0%
2.8%
Others
9.6%
16.7%
* Including vegetable oils used for biofuels production, assuming all of these vegetable oils
are certified with biofuels schemes, but it is not known which schemes are used.

Palm oil
Palm oil is an important ingredient in food industry and a potential raw material
for biofuel. For food industry, food producers, processors and other market actors
in the Netherlands has set a target to completely switch to RSPO certified palm oil
in 2015. The Dutch Task Force Sustainable Palm Oil is committed to promoting the
cultivation and the use of sustainably produced palm oil. This task force consists of
various market actors representing the Netherlands-based links in the palm oil
chain, i.e. the palm oil refiners, processors, and retailers along the chain. RSPO
certified palm oil has increased from 4.8 MT in 2011 to 6.7 MT in 2012. Total
consumption of palm oil in the EU is about 5.7 MT, of which 43% is from Indonesia
and 35% is from Malaysia (UN Comtrade, 2013). The Dutch Task Force
Sustainable Palm oil (2013) reported a strong growth in the share of sustainable
certified palm oil in the Dutch food sector in 2011-2012, from 21% (about 0.08
MT) to 41% (about 0.17 MT) of total palm oil consumed for food purpose. Up to
2012, 99 Dutch companies have joined the RSPO, 70 companies have joined
Palm Green Supply Chain and 38 companies have become supply chain
certified. The dairy and milk substitute is leading with 76% of their total palm oil
consumption certified. Friesland Campina and Unilever are among the forerunners
in switching to sustainable certified palm oil. Albert Heijn and Verkade have
announced that they will only use sustainable palm oil in their products; and many
other food companies have also committed themselves to start buying sustainable
palm oil. It is expected that the demand for sustainable palm oil in the Dutch
market will continue to increase steadily to reach the goal of 100% certified in
2015. Besides the Netherlands, Belgium and UK have also started similar
initiatives, while France and Germany are also expected to follow the pathway in
the near future.
Soybean
Soy is an ingredient for animal feed, a source of protein, vegetable oil and
biofuels. The Netherlands is the worlds second largest importer of soy, mainly
from Brazil, US, Paraguay, Uruguay and Canada. The net import amount is almost
stagnant, maintaining at around 2.3 MT from 2010 to 2012. Soybeans are crushed
in the Netherlands and most of the soy oils are exported to the other European
countries. Similar to palm oil, the Dutch actors together with Belgian and
Scandinavian buyers have expressed their commitment to build up sourcing of
responsible soy. In 2010, sustainability standards for soy, Round Table on
Responsible Soy (RTRS) were finalized and have been implemented by soy
producers in 2011. The Dutch market actors in the soy chain aim for switching to
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100% responsible soy for the production of meat, dairy, eggs and other food in
2015. In June 2011, the Dutch food and feed industry has bought the first batch of
soy produced according to the principles of the RTRS, amounted to 85 ktonnes
(RTRS, 2011). The share of RTRS continued to grow in 2012, approaching 9.8% of
total Dutch soy imports or equaling to 294 ktonnes (IDH, 2013). The Netherlands
intends to become the international leader in the use of responsibly grown soy by
supporting soy growers in South America and also other market actors along the
supply chain.
Rapeseed
Started in 2008, Cargill and Unilever worked in partnership to verify German
oilseed rape production against the Unilever sustainable agriculture code which
aims to improve their practices beyond those required by mandated European
good agricultural practice. Cargill has supplied the first-ever sustainable verified
rapeseed oil to Unilever with an initial consignment covering five percent of
Unilevers rapeseed oil needs (Cargill, 2012). However, it is unclear how much of
this has entered the Dutch market. Other than that, there is currently no specific
certification for rapeseed, but mainly ISCC is used for the purpose of biofuel
production.
Biodiesel
Figure 4-8 shows the application of sustainability schemes on biodiesel consumed
in the Netherlands. ISCC is the most popular scheme with its dominance in most
categories, but the application of NTA 8080 and 2BSvs is also growing remarkably.
A large portion of the biofuels falls under double counting. There is a significant
increase in the certification of double-counted FAME in 2012 compared to 2011,
mainly certified with ISCC.

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MT

Biofuel production (for


domestic use and
export)

Domestic non-energy use

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

2010
2011
2012

2010
2011
2012

Certified vegetable oils

Non-certified vegetable oils

UCO and animal fats

Fatty acids

Figure 4-7 Use of certified and non-certified vegetable oils, UCO and animal fats, and fatty acids in the Netherlands
* Assuming all biofuels produced since 2011 were certified

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100
90
80
70

ktonnes

60
50
40
30
20
10

2011
RSB EU RED
NTA 8080
RED Cert
Others
RTRS
2BSvs + Double counting
ISCC + Double counting

Palm oil

Unknown

Glycerol

Household waste

Cassava

UCO

Tallow

Animal fats

Rapeseed

Others

Unknown

UCO

Tall oil

Tallow

Animal fats

Soy

Rapeseed

Palm oil

2012
NTA 8080 + Double counting
Biograce
Unknown
Double counting
RSPO
2BSvs
ISCC

Figure 4-8 Biodiesel consumed in the Netherlands in 2011-2012 by schemes


(Source: NEa 2012, 2013)
4.3

Energy use of oils and fats


Figure 4-9 shows the quantity of biodiesels consumed in the Netherlands in 20102012. The total volume amounted to 0.1 MT, 0.29 MT and 0.26 MT respectively in
the three consecutive years. Biofuels consumption in the Netherlands is monitored
by NEa. The reporting by the industry has shown improvement after the first year
of implementation, with more details reported.

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The nominal share of biodiesel in total Dutch diesel consumption is 4.86% in 2012,
but note that this includes double counting of certain biodiesels. The Netherlands
biodiesel market still heavily focuses on double counting, as double-counted
biodiesel contribute more than 40% of the compliance with the annual
requirement of renewable energy in transportation in 2012. The double counting
mechanism is generally applied for biofuels produced from wastes, residues, nonfood cellulosic material and lignocellulosic material. These biofuels are counted
double for the annual obligation of renewable transport fuels. The reports from
NEa show that the largest share of biodiesel consumption come from double
counting, particularly biodiesel made of domestic UCO and tallow from Germany.
In 2012, the country also consumed significant amount of biodiesel made of UCO
from Spain and the US. Note that for the year 2011, it is unclear whether the
Unknown category includes UCO or not, but more than 80% of this category was
counted double. This double-counted Unknown diminished in 2012.
The relatively large amount of double counting biodiesel not only in the
Netherlands but also in the European market has caused some suspicion.
Concerns have recently been raised that the market has been distorted by lack of
verification on wastes (compared to crop feedstock) and over incentivisation
causes unintended consequences. It could be very difficult to trace the origins of
the UCO (Tsay, 2012). This creates a loophole that may lead to the deliberate
production of waste and the importing of poorly checked waste from other
countries. These flows of feedstock (which may include non-certified vegetable
oils) are not traceable, as there are still no mechanisms to trace, verify or
distinguish waste-derived biodiesel.
The annual production capacity of biodiesel in the Netherlands has increased from
0.52 MT to 2.03 MT in 2011, but there is no additional capacity in 2012 (CBS,
2013b). MVO (2013) reported 1.27 MT of oils and fats consumption for the
production of biodiesel, whereas CBS (2013b) reported 1.18 MT for the volume of
biodiesel produced. It seems that the Netherlands has a large unused production
capacity for biodiesel, but the capacity is still increasing every year. Neste oil is
the largest producer with its Rotterdam plant which has a capacity of 0.80 MT per
year. The facility is capable of using a variety of vegetable oils, by-products of
vegetable oil refining (e.g. stearin), as well as waste oils and fats (Neste Oil,
2011). In 2012, there is a large increase in the import of palm oil for biofuel
production, amounted to 0.78 MT, compared to 0.08 MT in 2011 (MVO, 2013).
This is mainly used by the Neste Oil plant in Rotterdam to produce hydro-treated
vegetable oils (HVO). HVO like NExBTL renewable diesel is produced by hydrotreating various vegetable oils, animal-based waste fats, and by-products of
vegetable oil refining. As NEa (2013) reported that there is no consumption of
palm-based biodiesel in the country in 2012, these HVO is assumed to be
exported.

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100

90

80

Finland
Denmark
Indonesia
US
France
UK
Netherlands
Others

Argentina
Poland
Malaysia
Lithuania
Spain
Germany
Unknown
Total in 2012:
261 ktonnes

70
Total in 2011:
291 ktonnes

ktonnes

60
Total in 2010:
107 ktonnes

50

40

30

20

10

2010

2011

Unknown
Animal fats
Rapeseed
Tallow
UCO
Glycerol
Cassava
Palm

Unknown
Animal fats
Palm oil
Rapeseed
Soy
Tallow
UCO
Tall oil
Others

Unknown
Animal fats
Palm oil
Rapeseed
Soy
Tallow
UCO
UCO / Animal fats
UCO/ Tall oil

2012

Figure 4-9 Biodiesel consumed in the Netherlands in 2010 and 2011 by feedstock
and country (Source: NEa, 2011; 2012; 2013)
Note: Tiny streams are omitted. Others implies the feedstock is known to NEa but reported
at aggregated level.

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Carbohydrates

5.1

Overview
This chapter covers carbohydrate chains in the Netherlands. This includes grains
and starch such as maize (maize), wheat barley, sugar beets, potatoes and etc.
Due to the fact that carbohydrates are mainly used in food industries and
processed with other materials, causing the mass flows highly complex, the mass
balance is limited to only primary material flows.
Carbohydrates are widely used food staples, which can be directly used for food
and animal feed, or processed to make food (bread, biscuits), beverages (beers)
and feed, or industrial products such as ethanol. In addition to food and feeds,
carbohydrates can also be feedstock for textiles, adhesives and energy. Figure 51, 5-2 and 5-3 illustrate the quantified mass flows of carbohydrates in the
Netherlands in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Basically the Netherlands was able to selfsupply more than half of its total carbohydrates consumption. Other carbohydrates
products and sugars (e.g. white sugars) have very little flows. Maize (corn) turned
out to be the largest Dutch carbohydrates source. Although the Netherlands
produced relatively large amount of maize, considerable amount of maize were
imported. Potatoes, sugar beets and barley were the other important sources of
carbohydrates. A significant change in 2011 could be the production of ethanol in
the Netherlands - a new ethanol plant that capable to processed about 1.2 MT of
maize and wheat was built. However, the connection shown in Figure 5-2 and 5-3
was only for indication because the actual feedstock and destination are unknown.
CBS (2013b) has reported the production of biodiesel in the Netherlands, but the
number for bioethanol is not known.
Figure 5-4 depicts the Dutch grains and starchy crops production from 2008 to
2012. Potato has been the leading crop in domestic carbohydrates production,
followed by sugar beets and green maize. There are no drastic changes over the
years. The total carbohydrates production remains at a stable level of 17 19 MT
(at 16% moisture). Figure 5-5 shows the net trade balances of grains and starch
for the Netherlands across the period 2008 to 2012. The Netherlands is an
exporter of potatoes. On the other hand, the country imports large quantity of
wheat, maize and barley. Most imports come from Europe, but there are also
imports of maize from South America. In 2008, the Netherlands imported 0.78 MT
and 0.14 MT of maize from Brazil and Argentina, respectively. However, these
imports drop dramatically in 2009 to less than 0.2 MT in total. In 2011, imports of
maize from outside the EU took recovery and bounced back to about 1.1 MT,
contributing to more than quarter of total maize import. In fact, the EU controls
the entry of lower priced grains from third countries by means of a system of
import duties and quotas (EC, 2013).
Table 5-1 shows the data sources for this chapter. See Section 2.3 for the
description of data sources (i) (v).
Table 5-1 Data sources for Carbohydrates
Data sources
Data for all streams other than bioethanol and biogas was
taken from CBS (2013) using CN code listed in Appendix.
Data for biogas was taken from CBS (2011)
Data for all crops produced domestically came with different
moisture content (CBS, 2013). Their moisture content was
harmonized to 16%.
Moisture content of grains imported is assumed at 14% (US
Grain Council, 2013; TIS, 2013; EUROSTAT, 2013), which is
the maximum level allowed to be considered dry for

ii

iii
x

iv

x
x
x

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shipment. Moisture content is usually specified in the


contract by the buyer, independent of the grade. Moisture
content is important because it affects the amount of dry
matter being sold and purchased. In addition, the average
moisture level and variability in a shipment of maize affect
its quality arriving at destination.
Data for consumption of bioethanol was taken from NEa
(2011; 2012; 2013). Total consumption was found to be
almost constant at 0.18-0.19 MT. As a comparison, CBS
(2013b) reported 0.21, 0.23 and 0.19 MT for three
consecutive years.
Connection between bioethanol and grains was only a rough
estimation. It is not publicly known that how much they
produce, where they source the raw materials and where
they sell the bioethanol to. NEa reported that 0.19 MT of
bio-ethanol was consumed in 2012 and almost all of them
was made from materials from foreign countries, but it was
unclear where was these bioethanol produced. As a
comparison, Flach (2013) reported that the total ethanol
production in Benelux is estimated at 0.68 MT in 2011, and
forecasted at 0.87 MT in 2012.
Connection between secondary products (sugars, flour,
glucose) and raw material was unable to establish due to
data limitation.
Trade statistics of ethanol for 2008 2011 were collected
from CBS (2013).

x
x

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Figure 5-1 Mass balance for carbohydrates flows in the Netherlands in 2010 (dry content)

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Figure 5-2 Mass balance for carbohydrates flows in the Netherlands in 2011 (dry content)

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Figure 5-3 Mass balance for carbohydrates flows in the Netherlands in 2012 (dry content)

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8.0
7.0
6.0

Total wheat
Total barley

MT

5.0

Grain maize
4.0

Green maize

3.0

Corn Cob Mix

2.0

Total potatoes
Sugar beet

1.0
0.0
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Figure 5-4 Grains and starchy crops production in the Netherlands from 2008 to
2011 (MT). (Source: CBS, 2012a)
* Moisture content was harmonized to 16%

5.0
4.5
4.0

Others

Brazil

Argentina

Asia

3.5
3.0
2.5
MT

2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0

2008

2009

2010

2011

Wheat
Barley
Maize
Potatoes

Wheat
Barley
Maize
Potatoes

Wheat
Barley
Maize
Potatoes

Wheat
Barley
Maize
Potatoes

Wheat
Barley
Maize
Potatoes

-1.5

2012

Figure 5-5 Trade flows (net by region / country) of grains and starch for the
Netherlands from 2008 to 2011. (Source: CBS, 2013)
a.
b.
c.
d.

Wheat: 10019099, 10019900, 10019190


Barley: 10030090, 10039000
Maize: 10059000
Potato: 20041010, 20052080

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Sustainability of carbohydrates
Majority of carbohydrates consumed in the Netherlands originated from Europe. In
recent years sustainability has been an important consideration in Dutch food
industry, and included in procurement policies of many food companies. However,
currently it is still unclear how sustainability certifications can be applied on grains
in Europe. Companies generally purchase sustainable supplies through bilateral
agreements by providing the suppliers a set of rules and criteria to follow. In
addition, agriculture in Europe is largely monitored by environmental laws and
regulations. Conventional certifications focus more on some other issues such as
organic food. In 2012, Productschap Akkerbouw has developed a sustainability
module within the VVAK system for farmers to show compliance with the EU-RED.
It covers cultivation, harvesting, processing, storage and transport of open field
crops. The scheme has been approved and accepted by the Dutch government to
be used for the production of sustainable biofuels (NEa, 2012b). In the same year,
another Dutch sustainability initiative, namely Stichting Veldleeuwerik,
representing a large number of Dutch farmers and processors, has signed the
Green Deal with the government. Through this foundation, a new sustainability
certification system on the Dutch agricultural farming practices will be introduced
in 2012. Table 5-2 shows the market share of schemes for bioethanol in the
Netherlands. ISCC is the most popular scheme, but the use of RED Cert also grew
in 2012. Figure 5-6 shows the application of sustainability schemes on bioethanol
consumed in the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012. ISCC is the most popular scheme,
but the use of RED Cert also grew in 2012.
Table 5-2 Market share of sustainability certification schemes for bioethanol in
the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012
Type of biomass

Sustainability
schemes

Bioethanol (on weight


basis) (NEa, 2011;
2012; 2013)

ISCC
RBSA
RED Cert
Others

180

Market share (% of certified biomass per


particular products group in the market)
2011
2012
84.0%
92.9%
3.9%
0.5%
0.0%
5.3%
11.1%
1.3%

Unknown
2BSvs

160

Others
ENSUS

Bonsucro
RBSA

RED Cert
ISCC

140
120
ktonnes

100
80
60
40

2011

Wheat straw

Wheat

Sugarcane

Sugarbeets

Maize

Others

Unknown

Wheat

Sugarcane

Sugarbeets

20
Maize

5.2

2012

Figure 5-6 Sustainable certified bioethanol consumed in the Netherlands in 2011


and 2012 by schemes (Source: NEa, 2012; 2013)
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5.3

Energy use of carbohydrates


Figure 5-7 illustrates the Dutch bioethanol consumption from 2010 to 2012. The
total consumption remains between 0.180.19 MT. Different from biodiesel, which
has a diverse source of feedstock and origins, the majority of the bioethanol
consumed in the Netherlands originated from US maize and European wheat.
Maize ethanol dominates with 40% of market share in 2010 and even 90% in
2011, but the number dropped to 71% in 2012. This is probably due to the
reclassification of US ethanol to higher tariff rate (see the third paragraph). East
Europe emerges as the second largest supplier of maize for ethanol, followed by
France and other European countries. The next important feedstock is wheat,
which has plummeted drastically in 2011, but bounced back to 18% in 2012. The
decline of wheat ethanol in 2011 is probably caused by bad harvest in that year feedstock price was high and production of bioethanol from cereal was less
attractive (GAIN, 2012a; 2012c). Brazil was once an important contributor, but it
has experienced a large decline in 2011 and the trend continued in 2012. The
reasons could be multifold: increasing domestic consumption, more attractive
export to the US market where sugarcane ethanol is classified as advanced
biofuels, and bad harvest in 2011.
The Netherlands may continue to become a hub for biofuels blending and further
distribution, as well as production since its large seaports provides easy access to
feedstock. Abengoa Bioenergy's bioethanol plant in Rotterdam that started in
September 2010 is the largest single facility in the world. It can produce 480
million litres of bioethanol (0.38 MT) annually from 1.2 MT of maize or wheat
cereal as feedstock. It also produces 0.36 MT of distilled grains and solubles (DGS)
which can be used an animal feed (Abengoa Bioenergy, 2012). In June 2012,
Cargill has also reportedly added 380 million litres of annual starch-based ethanol
production capacity to its wheat wet-mill in Bergen op Zoom. The facility can
process 0.6 MT of wheat annually. Ethanol will be produced from a side stream
containing starch as raw material instead of the whole wheat grain (Ethanol
producer magazine, 2012). It is not publicly known that how much they produce,
where they source the raw materials and where they sell the bioethanol to.
Figure 5-8 depicts the trend of ethanol trade flows. The major suppliers are
American countries. The import of ethanol under the groups CN 22071000 and CN
22072000 have plummeted since 2008. The Brazilian ethanol has also disappeared
in the Dutch market after 2009. Between 2009 2011, there was a steep increase
of US ethanol entering the EU under the code CN 38249707. These products were
found to leave the US as denatured (CN 22072000) or undenatured ethanol (CN
22071000), but most of those exports enter the EU as chemical compound (CN
38249097) with lower tariff (See Section 7.2 for more details). In 2012, these
bioethanol blends was reclassified to the higher tariff rate, and trade of ethanol
from US to Europe will probably decline significantly. However, it is not sure in the
long term how will this impact imports from the US, due to the fact that the EU
domestic production is insufficient even with the anticipated capacity expansion in
2013 and 2014. As shown in the figure, US ethanol has returned to the Dutch
market under CN 22072000 in 2012. The regulated demand in the EU is expected
to raise domestic ethanol prices and will attract bioethanol from the market in
Brazil, the United States or other countries (Flach et al., 2012).
Besides bioethanol, it can also be used as feedstock for biogas. About 0.36 MT of
maize was fermented into biogas in 2010, but this figure dropped to 0.18 MT in
2011 (CBS 2012). AVEBE, a company that works on innovation use of potato
starch has signed the Green Deal with Drenthe (province) that involves an
investment for biogas production in Potato Power, a large biogas project in

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Gasselternijveen using potato starch as feedstock. This project aims to produce


500 to 750 million m3 of biogas by 2020 (Provincie Drenthe, 2012).

180
Others
Brazil
160

US
East Europe

140

UK
France
Other European countries

120

Unknown

ktonnes

100

80

60

40

20

2010

2011

Others
Maize
Sugarbeet
Sugarcane
Wheat
Wheat straw

Unknown
Others
Maize
Sugarbeet
Sugarcane
Wheat

Unknown
Cassava
Others
Grain
Maize
Molasse
Sugarbeet
Sugarcane
Tapioca chips
Wheat
Triticale

2012

Figure 5-7 Bioethanol consumed in the Netherlands in 2010 -2012 by feedstock


(Source: NEa, 2011; 2012; 2013)

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400

300

ktonnes

200

100

-100

-200

-300
2008

2009

Brazil (22071000)
Guatemala (22071000)
US (22072000)
EU (22071000)
Other American countries (22071000)
Others (22071000)

2010

2011

2012

Brazil (22072000)
US (22071000)
US (38249097)*
EU (22072000)
Other American countries (22072000)
Others (22072000)

Figure 5-8 Ethanol trade balances (net) of the Netherlands for 2008 2012
(ktonnes). (Source: CBS, 2013)
* Note: Fuel ethanol from US was found registered as 38249097 upon arriving in the EU, but the number
reported under this code may also contain other chemicals.
d. CN 22071000: Undenatured ethyl alcohol of actual alcoholic strength of >= 80%
e. CN 22072000: Denatured ethyl alcohol and other spirits of any strength
f. CN 38249097: Other chemical compounds

Indirectly, biomass from this category also ended up for energy use via livestock,
as they also serve as feed (also applied to soy meals and other oil seed meals in
Oils and fats category). There are two major portions of energy to be tapped via
livestock, i.e. co-digestion of manure and milk heat. Co-digestion of manure
includes the production of biogas from the fermentation of manure, together with
other plant materials. Since 2010, more than 2 MT of wet biomass was fermented
annually, and about half of them was manure. The total annual manure production
in the Netherlands was about 70 MT. From 2010 to 2012, the manure digesters
yielded about 4% of the final Dutch consumption of renewable energy (about 2 PJ
of electricity and 1 PJ of heat). On the other hand, milk heat is a special form of
energy released during the cooling of milk in dairy farms. The heat comes mainly
from the cows, contributes about 0.3% of the Dutch consumption of renewable
energy (CBS, 2012).

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Overview of global biomass trade flows

6.1

Introduction
Over the last few years, the global biomass trade have shown a slow growth due
to unfavorable global economic context. Many biomass commodities have
experienced a slump in trade volume in 2009, which however followed by a
rebound in 2010. For agricultural products, weather conditions also had an impact
on the trade performance, particularly maize and wheat. The EU has become the
top importer of products from developing countries over the years, recording more
than 70% of its total annual imports between 2009 2011 while still showing a
growing trend, compared to 43% share in total agricultural imports of Canada, the
US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan (EC, 2012).
This chapter focuses on the market trend from 2008 to 2012 to match with the
time frame chosen for the Dutch case study. Seeing the complexity of global
biomass trade flows, 11 commodities from three biomass categories are selected
for this analysis. They are (i) woody biomass: round wood, wood chips, wood
pellets; (ii) oils and fats: palm oil, soybean, rapeseed, biodiesel; (iii)
carbohydrates: wheat, corn, ethanol.
Approach:
Data was collected from existing statistics (i.e. the UN COMTRADE) and
studies performed by IEA Bioenergy Task 40. Trend analysis was based on
literature review (e.g. the USDA GAIN reports).
The study mainly focuses on comparison of the EU and the other big
importers. Exporting countries are categorized in regions, unless any
single exporter from a region is detected with large exporting volume to
the importer.
Production volume (taken from FAOSTAT) is also included for comparison.
Intra-EU trade is excluded.
Figures 6-1 shows the comparison of the EU imports versus global imports of the
selected commodities in 2012. This graph is only meant for indication because
each products may have different composition (e.g. soybean and palm oil are
different in composition). The EU has been a significant importer of most of these
products, and also the largest importer of wood pellets, biodiesel and ethanol.
Figure 6-2 depicts the trend of EU imports in comparison with global trade
volumes of wood pellets, biodiesel and ethanol from 2008 to 2012. Out of the 11
selected products, wood pellets, biodiesel and ethanol have shown significant
changes compared to the others. The import of wood pellet has grown steadily,
but both biodiesel and ethanol have shown different trends. These will be further
discussed in the following sections.

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90

80

70

60

MT

50

40

30

20

10

Other global trade flows*


N.America to EU
S.America to EU

Others to EU
Australia to EU

S.E.Asia to EU
Fmr. Soviet Union to EU

Figure 6-1 EU imports in comparison with global trade volumes for the year 2012
Source: Own calculation based on Figure 6-3 6-12.
* Only estimation due to complexity of indirect trade
** This figure includes the EU import under 382490 from US which is suspected to be ethanol

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5
4.5
4
3.5

MT

3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

Ethanol

Biodiesel

Wood pellets

2008
2010
2011
Note: Purple series
at the bottom2009
represent EU imports,
light blue
series at the 2012
top
represent other imports.
Figure 6-2 EU imports in comparison with global trade of wood pellets, biodiesel
and ethanol from 2008 to 2012.
Source: Own calculation based on Figure 6-3 6-12.
* Only estimation due to complexity of indirect trade
** This figure includes the EU import under 382490 from US which is suspected to be ethanol

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6.2

Woody biomass
The production of timber has shown a steady increase after the slump in 2009,
reaching 4837 MT in 2012 (FAOSTAT, 2013). Figure 6-3 illustrates the major trade
flows of round wood. The total trade volume (imports) fluctuates from 55 MT to 75
MT. China is the largest buyer of round wood (almost 40% of global imports).
Since 2010, the export of Russian round wood to China has slightly declined, while
South America emerged as a significant supplier to China.
Figure 6-4 shows the major trade flows of wood chips. After the downturn in 2009,
the global traded volume of wood chips have shown a steadily increasing trend
compared to round wood. The traded volume has increased from about 21 MT in
2009 to just over 31 MT in 2012. China has contributed to this growth, remaining
as the second largest chip destination since 2010, due to major investments in
pulp capacity and lack of domestic fibre resources. This growth is also partly
caused by the expansion of wood processing capacity in Turkey (Wood Business,
2013). Despite still ranked as the largest importer of wood chips, import volumes
of Japan has dropped considerably after 2009 and never returned to 17 MT
recorded in 2008. Following that, the EU-27, particularly Finland, has been
importing large amount of residual chips from Russian sawmills and chips from the
Baltic States. Turkey also emerged as a major importer in 2012, mainly relying on
chips from the US. The global trade of wood chips is expected to grow
continuously with larger demand from countries with limited resources and
marginal fiber supplies.
Figure 6-5 depicts the global trade of wood pellets. The EU has been the dominant
importer (almost 100%). The trade volume has shown a steep increase in 2012,
reaching 4.5 MT in 2012. Canada is the main contributor to this growth, rising
from 1.16 MT in 2011 to 1.96 MT in 2012. These pellets mostly come from British
Columbia. The imports from US also increase steadily since 2008. This is caused
by the recent investment of the European utilities in North America, especially in
the fibre basket, i.e. the Southeast US. The UK, The Netherlands, Belgium and
Denmark are among the biggest importers of wood pellets, in particular industrial
pellet for co-firing in power plants. Financial support from governments is the
most crucial factor affecting the trade flows.

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80.0
70.0
60.0
Other imports

MT

50.0
40.0

Malaysia to India
N.America to Japan
Oceania to Korea

30.0

Oceania to China
N.America to China

20.0

Russia to China

10.0
Former Soviet Union
to EU-27

0.0
2008

MT
Malaysia to India
N.America to Japan
Oceania to Korea
Oceania to China
N.America to China
Russia to China
Former Soviet Union to EU-27
Other imports

2009

2010
Year

2011

2012

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

1.43
2.47
2.91
3.93
0.00
15.77
14.77
25.70

1.93
2.19
2.34
5.62
0.00
12.52
5.34
25.86

1.91
2.68
2.47
7.94
2.46
11.83
8.08
39.05

1.63
5.14
2.46
10.26
6.55
11.89
8.00
28.41

1.88
2.81
2.23
10.27
5.43
9.48
8.03
23.90

Figure 6-3 Major trade flows of round wood (Source: UN Comtrade, 2013)
-

4403,"Wood in the rough, whether or not stripped of bark or sapwood, or roughly s ...","Wood in the
rough, whether or not stripped of bark or sapwood, or roughly squared.",0,4,"44"
Weight is estimated at 900 kg/m3 when only data in m3 is available.

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35.0

30.0

Other imports

25.0

Others to Turkey
US to Turkey
South Africa to Japan

20.0
MT

Oceania to Japan
N. America to Japan
S. America to Japan

15.0

S.E. Asia to Japan


Others to China
Australia to China

10.0

S.E. Asia to China

5.0

0.0
2008

MT
Others to Turkey
US to Turkey
South Africa to Japan
Oceania to Japan
N. America to Japan
S. America to Japan
S.E. Asia to Japan
Others to Japan
Others to China
Australia to China
S.E. Asia to China
Others to EU-27
S. America to EU-27
Former Soviet Union to EU-27
Other imports

Others to EU-27
S. America to EU-27
Former Soviet Union
to EU-27

2009

2010
Year
2008
1.45
0.00
2.16
6.07
1.04
3.46
4.13
0.03
0.01
0.21
0.84
0.66
1.17
1.02
1.79

2011

2009
0.88
0.66
1.40
4.11
0.61
2.89
1.44
0.02
0.07
0.66
2.04
1.04
0.56
1.55
3.10

2012

2010
1.06
0.54
1.47
4.83
0.85
3.02
1.93
0.02
0.07
0.65
4.48
0.96
1.55
1.91
3.29

2011
0.29
0.65
1.33
3.69
0.89
3.21
2.65
0.02
0.17
0.95
5.45
0.67
1.64
1.89
4.84

2012
1.65
1.34
1.08
3.45
0.71
3.29
2.58
0.02
0.28
0.83
6.48
0.75
0.60
2.07
6.21

Figure 6-5 Major trade flows of wood chips (Source: UN Comtrade, 2013)
-

440121,"Wood, in chips/particles, coniferous","Wood, in chips/particles, coniferous",1,6,"4401"


440122,"Wood, in chips/particles, non-coniferous","Wood, in chips/particles, nonconiferous",1,6,"4401"
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4.5
Others to EU-27

4.0
Former Soviet Union
to EU-27

3.5
3.0

MT

2.5
Canada to EU-27

2.0
1.5
1.0

US to EU-27

0.5
0.0
2008

MT
Others to EU-27
Former Soviet Union to EU-27
Canada to EU-27
US to EU-27
Other imports

2009

2010
Year
2008
0.33
0.72
0.69
0.09
0.00

2011

2009
0.46
1.02
0.56
0.54
0.00

2012

2010
0.22
0.54
1.08
0.74
0.19

2011
0.31
0.73
1.16
1.00
0.24

2012
0.29
1.01
1.96
1.22
0.24

Figure 6-5 Major trade flows of wood pellets


-

Source: For 2008 - 2009 data is taken from UN Comtrade under code "440130" . For
2010 - 2012 data is taken from Lamers et al. 2013

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6.3

Oils and fats


Global trade of oils and fats consists of palm oil, soybean, rapeseed and other
oilseeds. This category includes three major types of products, i.e. oilseeds, oils,
and meals. The ratio between these three products is determined by divergent
demand, limits on domestic processing capacity as well as trade policies. As shown
in the Dutch case study, mainly oilseed is imported and crushed locally. As the
commodities are closely substitutable and competitive, the trade flows could be
diverted depends on seasonal availability, relative prices and other factors. Trade
policies such as tariffs and domestic subsidies are normally used to monitor the
market and trade (see Chapter 7 for more details).
Figure 6-6 shows the major trade flows of palm oil. The global palm oil production
has recorded about 50 MT, showing an increase of almost 20% in 2012 compared
to 2008, after a near stagnant trend in 2008-2010 (FAOSTAT, 2013). Malaysia and
Indonesia dominates the production, account for 35% and 50% respectively, while
the rest is contributed by Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Solomon Islands and
Colombia. The total trade volume of palm oil remains steady after 2009. Despite
the fall in 2011, the EU imports rose again in 2012. India has also increased its
palm oil imports in 2012.
Figure 6-7 depicts the major trade flows of soybean in 2008 2012. Despite the
low production of maize due to unfavorable weather conditions, soybean exports
from North and South America continue to grow steadily. Soy production has
expanded rapidly in South America since 1970s, and in recent years has expanded
into vast farmland in Brazil attributed to infrastructure improvement. The global
production has reached 265 MT in 2010, and slightly dropped to 253 MT in 2012
(FAOSTAT, 2013). Although China is now the fourth largest soybean producer, it is
still the largest importer, and the importing volume is still growing spurred by
increasing food demand (USDA, 2013). On the other hand, the EU-27 imports
large quantity of oil cakes from South America due to its protein deficit. Soy meal
is mainly used in livestock production. Argentina is the world largest exporter of
soy meal and oil, owing to its highly developed crushing industry and relatively
small domestic market (USDA, 2013). Abundant agricultural resources in South
America implies possible further expansion of soybean production, but this may be
limited by the rising concerns over the sustainability issue, in particular the
impacts of (indirect) land use change.
Figure 6-8 presents the major trade flows of rapeseed in 2008-2012. The traded
volume seems relatively low compared to palm oil and soybean (excluding intraEU trade). The production has increased globally up to 20%, from 57 MT in 2008
to about 65 MT in 2012. One of the main factors that stimulates the production in
the EU and also Ukraine is the growing demand of biodiesel in the EU.
International biodiesel market has grown remarkably over the past decade. The
recent trend is shown in Figure 6-9. The trade volume has reached more than 2
MT in the past few years. The biodiesel market is relatively volatile and highly
dependent on policy development. It is also largely influenced by the existing
global vegetable oil and oilseed market. Lamers (2012), Goh et al. (2013) and
some other reports have studied the global trade in details for 2008 to 2012. In
2013, the EU expanded the trade barriers to Argentina and Indonesia by imposing
tariffs on biodiesels from these countries, for the reason that they are allegedly
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selling it in the EU below cost (see also section 7.2). Previously, the EU has also
hit the US with a 5-year anti-dumping duties in 2009. In contrast, with the
recently reinstated tax credit of $1.00/gal for biodiesel in the US in January 2013,
these biodiesel is expected to flow into the US instead of the EU (ICIS, 2013;
Bloomberg, 2013). Despite the EU remains as the biggest producer and consumer,
the EC has recently proposed to put a 5% cap to limit the usage of first generation
biodiesel (i.e. those made of vegetable oils). If this is realized, the market will
receive big impact and the trade flows may change greatly as many production
has been targeted for export to the EU. Within the EU, the economic impact could
also be significant as the existing EU policy schemes has stimulated investment
and a rapid growth and in production capacity in the last few years.

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37.0
32.0
27.0

Others imports

MT

22.0
Indonesia to India

17.0

Malaysia to India

12.0

Indonesia to China
Malaysia to China

7.0

Others to EU-27
Papua N.G. to EU-27
Indonesia to EU-27

2.0
2008
-3.0

MT
Indonesia to India
Malaysia to India
Indonesia to China
Malaysia to China
Others to EU-27
Papua New Guinea to EU-27
Indonesia to EU-27
Malaysia to EU-27
Other imports

Malaysia to EU-27

2009

2010

2011

2012

Year
2008
4.32
0.71
1.68
3.56
0.46
0.39
1.94
1.76
20.43

2009
4.71
1.22
2.51
3.92
0.39
0.47
3.04
1.45
11.10

2010
4.47
0.90
2.24
3.43
0.23
0.49
2.95
1.77
14.14

2011
4.31
1.32
2.12
3.78
0.57
0.52
2.22
1.32
14.94

2012
5.07
2.41
2.87
3.43
0.68
0.57
2.43
1.97
11.15

Figure 6-6 Major trade flows of palm oil (Source: UN Comtrade, 2013)
-

151110,"Palm oil, crude","Palm oil, crude",1,6,"1511"


151190,"Palm oil, other than crude, & fractions thereof , whether or not ref. but n ...","Palm oil, other
than crude, & fractions thereof , whether or not ref. but not chemically modified",1,6,"1511"

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120.0
All are soybean flows except S. America to EU (Oil cakes)

Other imports

100.0

Others to Indonesia
Others to Japan
US to Japan

80.0

MT

N. America to China

60.0
S. America to China

40.0
S. America to EU (Oil
cakes)

20.0

Others to EU
N. America to EU
S. America to EU

0.0
2008

2009

MT
U.S. to Indonesia
S. America to Indonesia (Oil cakes)
U.S. to Japan
Others to Japan
World to Japan (Oil cakes)
N. America to China
S. America to China
S. America to China (Soy oil)
S. America to EU-27 (Oil cakes)
Others to EU-27 (Oil cakes)
Others to EU-27
N. America to EU-27
S. America to EU-27
Other imports

2010
Year
2008
1.08
1.47
2.73
0.98
1.68
15.45
21.50
2.41
21.89
0.96
0.18
4.37
9.88
16.42

2011

2009
1.18
1.73
2.41
0.98
1.91
22.12
20.43
2.34
19.92
0.79
0.25
2.79
9.87
14.50

2012

2010
1.58
2.19
2.47
0.99
2.19
23.67
31.13
1.06
20.05
1.53
0.34
4.30
8.83
17.03

2011
1.85
2.62
1.89
0.94
2.20
22.61
29.83
0.91
19.93
0.94
0.70
3.51
7.94
16.58

2012
1.81
3.11
1.76
0.96
2.11
26.60
31.69
1.62
18.07
1.41
1.22
3.24
7.53
11.23

Figure 6-7 Major trade flows of soybean (Source: UN Comtrade, 2013)

All refer to soy bean unless otherwise specified.


120100,"Soya beans, whether or not broken","Soya beans, whether or not broken",1,6,"1201"
230400,"Oil-cake & oth. solid residues, whether or not ground/in pellets, from extr ...","Oil-cake &
oth. solid residues, whether or not ground/in pellets, from extraction of soyabean oil",1,6,"2304"
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14.0

12.0
Other imports

10.0
Canada to Mexico

MT

8.0
Canada to Japan

6.0
Canada to China

4.0

Ukraine to EU-27

2.0
Australia to EU-27

0.0
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Year

Canada to Mexico
Canada to Japan
Canada to China
Ukraine to EU-27
Australia to EU-27
Other imports

2008
1.31
2.21
1.28
1.88
0.17
2.93

2009
1.11
1.96
3.21
1.68
0.81
3.48

2010
1.39
2.15
1.60
1.31
0.40
3.90

2011
1.54
2.26
1.25
0.95
1.22
4.13

2012
1.42
2.33
2.92
1.12
2.00
2.81

Figure 6-8 Major trade flows of rapeseed (Source: UN Comtrade, 2013)

1205,"Rape or colza seeds, whether or not broken.","Rape or colza seeds, whether or not
broken.",0,4,"12"

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3.5
3.0

Canada to US
S.E. Asia to US
Argentina to US

2.5
2.0
MT

S.E. Asia to EU

1.5
1.0

Argentina to EU

0.5
0.0
2008

Canada to EU
US to EU

2009

2010

2011

2012*

Year
MT
Canada to US
SE Asia to US
Argentina to US
SE Asia to EU-27
Argentina to EU-27
Canada to EU-27
US to EU-27
Other imports

2008
0.06
0.35
0.54
0.19
0.08
0.00
2.15
0.04

2009
0.07
0.08
0.08
0.28
0.85
0.14
0.52
0.14

2010
0.04
0.00
0.00
0.57
1.18
0.09
0.17
0.13

2011
0.09
0.00
0.00
0.90
1.25
0.00
0.14
0.19

2012
0.07
0.00
0.00
1.17
1.44
0.00
0.00
0.20

Figure 6-9 Major trade flows of biodiesel


* Source: Lamers (2012) for 2008 2011, UN Comtrade (2013) for 2012

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6.4

Carbohydrates
Similar to oilseeds, grains products are also often substitutable and competitive.
In addition, oilseed meal and other protein sources may also compete with grains
products for feed purpose. However, flexibility of markets is also limited by the
types of animals fed, local preferences and other factors.
Wheat and maize (corn) are the two of the largest traded grains. Wheat is also a
major food staple, mainly used to produce bread, pasta and noodles. Figure 6-10
illustrates the major trade flows of wheat. It shows a rather stable annual
production around 680 MT, except in 2010 and 2011 with a fluctuation between
650 700 MT. The US is the biggest exporter of wheat, although its production
share is only about 10% of global production (USDA, 2013). The other major
producers are Former Soviet Union, the EU, Australia, Canada and Argentina. As
shown in the graph, the trade volumes are quite evenly distributed among the
trade flows, implying the diversity of exporting countries. The production is rather
stable because wheat is being planted and harvested at different times across the
northern and southern hemisphere. This provides significant stability to the wheat
price and global market. It is likely that the wheat production will grow steadily,
owing to the increasing food demand caused by rising population.
Maize is another large component of global grain trade, mostly traded for feed,
and smaller amounts traded for industrial and food uses. In recent years, the
production of maize and other feed grain has been spurred by the demand for
biofuels. The total global production has shown an increase of about 7-8% from
2008 to 2012 (FAOSTAT, 2013). Although the US domestic consumption is more
than quadruple of the export volume, the US still dominates the world maize
trade. The global market is highly related to the weather conditions in the US corn
belt. Figure 6-11 shows the major trade flows of maize from 2008 to 2012.
Following the rebound in 2010, the total trade volume of maize has gone down in
2012. This is mainly attributed to the drought in the US (EC, 2012). Despite the
decrease of US exports to Japan and Korea, the flow to China is growing steadily.
Ukraine and South America (mainly Brazil) filled the gap in the world market
caused by the adverse weather conditions in the US, taking over US shares in
Asian and Middle East markets. Ukraine actually stands out as the one with the
highest growth in sales of agricultural products to the EU in 2012 (EC, 2012).
Japan remains as the largest importer due to domestic demand of coarse grain as
feed with attention to quality (Japan is a very large meat producer). Meanwhile,
the second largest importer, South Korea, is regarded as a more price-conscious
buyer that switches between wheat and maize, as well as between different
producers (USDA, 2013).
Figure 6-12 depicts the trend of major ethanol trade flows in recent years. In
2010, the once biggest supplier, Brazil, has experienced supply shortages as a
result of lower sugarcane production, increased demand, and strong competition
from the sugar market. Since 2011, there has been cross trade of cane and cornbased ethanol between Brazil and US. In 2012, the net flow changed its direction,
i.e. more ethanol is exported from Brazil to the US. Between 2009-2011, there has
been a steep increase of US ethanol being imported into the EU, but it dropped
again in 2012 (See Chapter 7).

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120.0

100.0

MT

80.0

60.0

40.0

20.0

0.0
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Year
Other imports
Australia to Indonesia
France to Morroco
France to Egypt
Australia to Korea
N.America to Japan
Ukraine to EU-27

Australia to China
N.America to Indonesia
N.America to Egypt
Russia to Turkey
N.America to Korea
Argentina to Brazil
N.America to EU-27

Canada to US
US to Phillipines
Russia to Egypt
N.America to Mexico
Australia to Japan
France to Algeria

Figure 6-10 Major trade flows of wheat (Source: UN Comtrade, 2013)

1001,"Wheat and meslin.","Wheat and meslin.",0,4,"10"

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90.0
80.0
70.0
Other imports

60.0
Uktraine to Egypt
S. America to Egypt
US to Egypt

MT

50.0
40.0

US to Mexico

30.0

Others to Korea
US to Korea
Others to Japan
US to Japan

20.0
10.0
0.0
2008

US to China
Others to EU
S. America to EU
Ukraine to EU

2009

2010

2011

2012

Year
MT
Ukraine to Egypt
S. America to Egypt
US to Egypt
US to Mexico
Others to Korea
US to Korea
Others to Japan
US to Japan
US to China
Others to EU-27
S. America to EU-27
Ukraine to EU-27
Other imports

2008
0.05
0.75
1.59
9.13
0.52
8.50
0.18
16.28
0.00
0.36
8.15
1.18
33.49

2009
0.58
0.25
0.91
7.25
1.40
5.93
0.57
15.72
0.01
1.54
0.55
0.64
33.30

2010
1.20
1.21
2.56
7.84
1.26
7.28
1.81
14.38
1.50
1.16
2.13
0.54
35.26

2011
1.52
1.94
3.29
8.47
1.73
6.02
1.52
13.77
1.69
3.02
1.51
2.59
34.94

2012
2.83
2.61
0.28
8.36
5.38
2.84
3.77
11.13
5.11
1.73
0.81
5.76
21.12

Figure 6-11 Major trade flows of maize (Source: UN Comtrade, 2013)

100590,"Maize (corn), other than seed", "Maize (corn), other than seed",1,6,"1005"

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5.0
4.5

US to Brazil
Brazil to Caribbean

4.0

Caribbean to US

3.5

MT

3.0

Brazil to US

2.5
2.0

Brazil to Japan

1.5

US to Canada

1.0
Total EU Import

0.5
0.0
2008

US to EU (382490)

2009

2010

2011

2012

Year

MT
US to Brazil
Brazil to Caribbean
Caribbean to US
Brazil to US
Brazil to Japan
US to Canada
Total EU-27 import
US to EU-27 (382490)

2008
0.00
0.55
0.66
0.53
0.15
0.36
1.27
0.00

2009
0.00
0.37
0.28
0.16
0.23
0.13
0.95
0.51

2010
0.02
0.11
0.02
0.27
0.30
0.29
0.44
0.31

2011
0.87
0.42
0.29
0.62
0.33
0.72
0.40
0.67

2012
0.44
0.25
0.28
1.62
0.23
0.85
0.57
0.32

Figure 6-12 Major trade flows of ethanol* (Source: UN Comtrade, 2013)

* This figure includes the EU import under 382490 from US which is suspected to be ethanol
2207,"Alcohol of a strength by volume of 80 % vol or higher","Undenatured ethyl alcohol of an
alcoholic strength by volume of 80 % vol or higher; ethyl alcohol and other spirits, denatured, of any
strength.",0,4,"22"
382490,"Other chem. prods. & preps. of the chem./allied industries (incl. those con ...","Other chem.
prods. & preps. of the chem./allied industries (incl. those consisting of mixts. of nat. prods.),
n.e.s.",1,6,"3824" (This graph only includes 2009 2012 for US to EU-27 (382490)

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6.5

Links to the DBI/DBM projects by Agency NL


The Sustainable Biomass Import programme (DBI) and the Global Sustainable
Biomass programme (DBM) specifically focus on promoting the sustainability of
biomass for energy, transport and chemical purposes. DBM aims to promote the
sustainability of the biomass chain, with the relevance of the development being
an important condition. For DBI, the focus is on the promotion of sustainability of
the biomass-import chains for energy and chemistry applications in the
Netherlands. For DBM, the sustainability guidelines of the Testing framework for
Sustainable Biomass apply. For DBI, projects must furthermore satisfy the criteria
of the RED (Renewable Energy Directive).
Table 6-1 is the factsheet of the 26 projects of DBI/DBM. These projects target on
18 crops and biomass, i.e. palm oil, soy, jatropha, sweet sorghum, sugarcane
(and panela), algae, cassava, candlenut, castor, coffee, reed, bamboo, oilseeds in
general, rice husk, straw, switchgrass and waste. Among the these crops, palm oil
and soy are the most traded commodities in the world, whereas other biomass
either has relatively small trade volumes or is not practically traded (e.g.
jatropha). The most popular location is Indonesia, which is also the largest palm
oil producer in the world.
There are 7 projects in palm oil, 5 on Indonesia, 1 in Columbia and 1 in Sierra
Leone. Four of these projects involve development of sustainable supply chain,
while the other three focus on demo facility, feasibility study and research. Linking
to the trade flows, among the biomass targeted, palm oil is the most traded
commodity, reaching more than 30 MT of global imports in 2012 (the EU imports
amounted to about 6 MT). Indonesia is the biggest supplier. The Dutch market has
consumed and processed 1.63 MT of palm oil in 2012 compared to 0.72 MT in
2011, which is roughly 5% of total global imports. About 0.78 MT out of 1.63 MT is
converted into biofuels (mainly in the form of HVO) in the Netherlands and
exported to other European countries. Certified palm oil started to enter the Dutch
market in 2011, and the volume increases from 0.67 MT in 2011 to 0.95 MT in
2012 (assuming all palm oil used for biodiesel production is certified) (See Figure
4-6). Sugarcane which is closely related to ethanol production is one of the
targeted crops, and is included in 2 DBM projects. The EU do not import sugar
cane in large quantity, but sugar cane ethanol is one of the important types of
biofuels imported. However, the export of sugarcane ethanol to the EU has
dropped significantly in the past few years due to several reasons like shortage in
Brazil and market incentives in the US. Another commodities traded in large
volume, soybean, is also included in 2 of the DBI projects. Instead of soybean, the
EU is rather a big importer of soymeal. Similar to palm oil, the Dutch market has
also started to import certified soybean since 2011. The share of certified soybean
is expected to continue to grow. The Netherlands is the forerunner in the EU to
use certified palm oil and soybean in significant volumes.
In contrast, the other targeted biomass have a much lesser traded volume
compared to the aforementioned palm oil and soybean. They are also not common
materials used for biofuel production like sugarcane. There are no existing supply
chains of some of these biomass, e.g. jatropha, ricee husk, straw and etc.
Jatropha is one of the main crops targeted, included in seven out of the 26
projects. This may lead to the establishment of completely new supply chains (e.g.
jatropha from East Africa).
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Table 6-1 Fact sheet of DBI and DBM projects


Project no.
DBM01002
DBM01004
DBM01005
DBM01011
DBM01012
DBM01013
DBM01014
DBM01015
DBM01017
DBM01018
DBM02011
DBM02020
DBM02021
DBM02024
DBM02025
DBM02026
DBM02031
DBM02032
DBM02036
DBM02037
DBM02038
DBM02039
DBM02045
DBM02047
DBM02050
DBM02053
DBI1006
DBI1010
DBI1013
DBI2002
DBI2006
DBI2007
DBI2009
DBI2011

Country
Mali
Indonesia
Mali
Brazil
South Africa
Mozambique
Indonesia
Colombia
Zambia
Tanzania
Colombia
Vietnam
Indonesia
Panama
Tanzania
Sierra Leone
Indonesia
Central and South America
Indonesia
South Africa
Indonesia
Indonesia
Mozambique
Brazil / Indonesia / Mozambique / South Africa
Mexico
Indonesia

Crops
Jatropha
Sweet Sorghum
Jatropha
Sugercane
Waste
Jatropha
Palm Oil
Palm Oil
Jatropha
Jatropha
Panela
Algae
Palm Oil, Algae, Waste
Cassava
Jatropha
Palm Oil
Candlenut, Castor
Coffee
Palm Oil
Oil seeds
Palm Oil
Palm Oil
Supply chain
Sugercane, Palm Oil, Jatropha, Waste
Jatropha
Rice husk
Wood
Straw, Reed, Switchgrass
Wood, Waste
Pyrolyse
Bamboo
Jatropha
Soy
Soy, Sugarcane

Type of project
Pilot project
Demo facility
Sustainability assessment
Development sustainable supply
Research
Development sustainable supply
Demo facility
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Research
Development sustainable supply
Research
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Feasibility study
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Research
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Development sustainable supply
Pilot plant
Feasibility study
Pilot plant
Research project

Poverty alleviation
Research
chain

Capacity building
Capacity building

chain
chain
chain

Capacity building
Capacity building
Poverty alleviation
Certification

chain
Capacity building
chain
chain
chain
chain
chain
chain
chain
chain
chain
chain
chain
chain

Poverty alleviation
Poverty alleviation

Research
Capacity
Capacity
Capacity
Capacity

building
building
building
building

Feasibility study

Summaries of all projects (which will be expanded with final reports in the coming months) are available at: http://www.agentschapnl.nl/biomass (click Projects)
Or direct link: http://english.agentschapnl.nl/topics/sustainable-entrepreneurship/sustainable-biomass/programmes/sustainable-biomass-projects

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Brief overview of the EU import policies

7.1

Introduction
The most important and well-known trade barrier are import tariffs. Trade blocks
like the EU have been using import tariffs as common practice to shield domestic
agricultural and biofuel markets from foreign competition. The EU also has
preferential trade agreements and generalized system of preferences (GSP) that
grant preferential market access to certain countries.

7.2

Biofuel
For liquid biofuels, policy incentives such as tax exemptions and subsidies are
granted to support domestic production, as well as import tariffs to limit imports,
often geared towards the promotion of domestic agricultural and interests. This
objective usually has higher priority over the promotion of biofuels with economic,
energetic or environmental advantages. Below are examples:
Biodiesel: Anti-dumping measures
In 2009, to stop the splash-and-dash practiced by the US biodiesel traders, the
EU has imposed the import levies against the US biodiesel. The splash-and-dash
effect happened when American producers import pure biodiesel made somewhere
else, blend with 1% of petro-diesel to the fuel (splash), collect the tax credit ($1
per gallon). After getting the credit, the tanker could continue to Europe (dash)
and receive European fuel tax credits.
Again in May 2013, the EU has decided to impose tariffs on biodiesel from
Argentina and Indonesia, which are basically made of soy and palm oil
respectively. These exporters are punished for allegedly selling biodiesel in the EU
below production cost, i.e. dumping. This is because differential export taxes exist
in Argentina and Indonesia, favoring the production and export of the finished
product biodiesel rather than soybean and palm oil. The levies is targeting as high
as 104.92 a metric ton, will last for six months and may be prolonged for five
years (Bloomberg, 2013). It is difficult to quantify in how far these preferential
export tariffs have de facto spurred production and export of biodiesel in both
countries however, the fact is that both countries continue to export biodiesel,
while e.g. Malaysian biodiesel exports were very low in 2012 (Junginger et al.,
2013). It is expected that the import taxes will bring these trade flows to a halt,
similar to import of US biodiesel due to the five-year anti-dumping duties on
biodiesel from the US implemented in 2009. Both Argentinian and Indonesian
biodiesel accounted for about 20 percent each in the EU biodiesel market in 2012.
Domestic producers hope to reduce the pressure on the market after most of the
highly competitive biodiesel is now prevented to enter the EU. Argentina has
announced that will file an objection to the World Trade Organization (WTO),
calling the tariffs an act of protectionism that lacks technical justification (Reuters,
2013). On the other hand, the EU also suspects possible trade-distorting aid for
Argentinian and Indonesian exporters, and was threatening to impose separate
anti-subsidy duties, but in August 2013 the EC decided not to adopt this (EBB,
2013).

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The impact of this trade policy may lead to the flow of Indonesian and Argentinian
biodiesel to the US. In January 2013, the US Congress has reinstated the tax
credit of $1.00/gal for biodiesel. However, the export of palm methyl ester (PME)
to the US is less likely since PME is regarded as less valuable compared with other
biodiesel grades such as soy methyl ester (SME). Also, the Malaysian PME exports
to the EU may also increase to fill the void left behind by Indonesia to a certain
extent, but this has been constrained by high cost of feedstock (ICIS, 2013).
Bioethanol: Harmonizing the classification of ethanol/petrol blends
The EU maintains a higher tariff for undenatured ethanol than for denatured
ethanol ( 0.192 and 0.102 per litre respectively). The tariffs do not distinguish
between the different uses of ethanol (beverage, fuel, industrial). Many Member
States (excl. the Netherlands) only permit blending with undenatured ethanol to
protect domestic market by the higher tariff rate (Flach, 2013).
Since 2009, there was a steep increase of US ethanol entering the EU. These
products were found to leave the US as denatured (CN 22072000) or undenatured
ethanol (CN 22071000), but most of those exports enter the EU as chemical
compound (CN 38249097) subject to a lower tariff, which is 6.5% of the custom
value (or around 0.035/l) (Junginger et al., 2013). At the EU side (most likely on
shore) petrol is added to the ethanol (the percentage of petrol varies between 10
and 15) (Vierhout, 2012). This has given big impact to the domestic ethanol
producers. To avoid this, the EU reclassified ethanol blends > 70% as CN
22072000 since 2012 (EC, 2013b). The EC has reportedly communicated that with
the new regulation, in practice all blends will fall under the high tariff rate of
denatured ethanol (i.e. 0.102/l). The EU's decision contrasts with the
abolishment of the ($ 0.142/l) import duty on ethanol charged by the US until the
end of December 2010 (Kfouri, 2011). Also, the EU in February 2013 announced
that it would impose a $ 0.0803/l tariff on US ethanol imports for five years after
November 2011 complaint that US ethanol importers were selling the fuel below
cost or dumping a practice that EU ethanol producers say caused ethanol
prices in Europe to fall (Junginger et al., 2013).
Nevertheless, under the Everything But Arms Initiative, the Cotonou Agreement,
the Euro-Med Agreements and the GSP Plus, many ethanol exporters, such as
Guatemala, South Africa and Zimbabwe, has duty-free access opportunity for
biofuel export to the EU. However, these imports are minor. Another significant
producer, Pakistan, was removed from the GSP by the EU due to domestic
producers pressure. The relatively higher import duty favors the export of raw
molasses over the value added products (Gustafsson, 2009).
7.3

Agriculture products
In addition to intervention mechanism, the grains market in EU is also controlled
through a system of import duties and quotas. The European Economic
Community (EEC) has sought to foster domestic production and exportation, and
to discourage importation, mainly by means of price mechanisms (Nidera, 2013):
1. domestic price levels are kept relatively high.
2. prices of imported grain are kept at levels approximating those of
domestic grain, by imposition of a special assessment, termed levy,
bringing the lower world market price up to the domestic EEC price level,
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3. exports from EEC are fostered through payment to the EEC exporter of
restitution.
The EU developed a system where duties were set on the basis of separate
reference prices for six grain types, including different types of wheat, maize, rye
and sorghum. Also, the EU introduced a system of quotas for imported grains. The
duty for imports outside the quota are subjected to a much higher duty. These
measures are used from time to time to monitor the market. From January 2012,
the quota for medium and low quality wheat is lowered taking into account of
market loss arising from accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in 2007.
Another example is that the EC has suspended the import duties on certain grains
for the first half of 2013 to ease the pressure on the EU market, especially for
animal feed. More details about the tariff system is published by the EC (2013).
Compared with trade in other agricultural commodities, trade in whole oilseeds,
particularly soybeans, is relatively unrestricted by tariffs and other border
measures, but oilseed meals, and particularly vegetable oils, typically have higher
tariffs. Agricultural tariff schedules for WTO member countries report the current
maximum permissible duties. At the moment, the EU tariffs on oilseeds and on
oilseed meals are zero, whereas duties on vegetable oils (except olive oil) range
from 0 to 12.8% (EC, 2013). Together with other trade policies, these tariffs
intend to shift trades toward whole oilseeds and away from higher value-added
oilseed meals and vegetable oils. However, for oilseed meals, the EU sets the tariff
to zero and imports large volume of meals due to high demand for feed. This has
also given impacts on grains traded as feed.
7.4

Woody biomass
The situation is a bit different for wood, where the exporters play the crucial role
with their trade policies in this arena. The reason could be the high demand and
low supply in wood resources in the EU. For example, the export tariff rate in
Russia has shown a significant impact on the EU import of Russian wood. Since
2007, the imports of Russian wood has dropped significantly after Russia
implemented export duties to boost domestic wood processing industry. However,
Russia is still the largest supplier of imported wood. Although the amount of
imports is expected to grow in 2012 after Russia has decided to open up a low
export duty quota for spruce and pine and allocate a relatively large share of it to
the EU, however the EU imports from Russia do not increase much yet in 2012
(UN Comtrade, 2013). Finland, which traditionally has accounted for 50% or more
of these imports, is likely to be the key beneficiary.
However to the authors knowledge, there are no measures on solid biofuels like
wood pellets on both import and export sides.

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Appendix I Data sources


i

ii

Sources
Own data
collection
directly from
the market
actors
Monitoring
bodies and
general
statistics
portals

iii

Trade
statistics
portals

iv

Mass balance
deductions
Fragmented
data,
assumptions,
and data
aggregation

Woody biomass
Wood pellet
buyers

Oils and fats


-

Carbohydrates
-

Probos

Product board
Margarine, Fats, Oils
(MVO);
Task Force of
Sustainable Palm Oil,
Sustainable Trade
Initiative (IDH);
Liquid biofuels - Dutch
Emission Authority
Waste - Afval database van Agentschap NL;
General - Central Bureau of Statistics of the Netherlands
(CBS)
The Netherlands - Central Bureau of Statistics of the
Netherlands (CBS);
EU level - EUROSTAT;
International level FAOSTAT; UN COMTRADE; USDA
Foreign Agricultural Service
Derivations from the other sources
Various sources like press releases, news, reports by
companies or other organizations, and scientific literature

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Appendix II CN code of biomass


CN Code

Description

Woody biomass
CN 44xxxxxx

Wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal

CN 45xxxxxx

Cork and articles of cork

CN 47xxxxxx

Pulp of wood or of other fibrous cellulosic material; recovered (Waste and


scrap) paper and paperboard

CN 48xxxxxx

Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or paperboard

CN 49xxxxxx

Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing


industry; manuscripts, type scripts and plans

CN 44013020

Sawdust and wood waste and scrap, agglomerated in pellets

Oils and fats


From
CN 1201xxxx
until
CN 1209xxxx

Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits

CN 230400

Oil-cake & oth. solid residues, whether or not ground/in pellets, from
extraction of soyabean oil

CN 15xxxxxx
CN 15200000

Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products; prepared
animal fats; animal or vegetable waxes
Glycerol, crude; glycerol waters and glycerol lyes

CN 29054500

Glycerol

CN 38249055

Mixtures of mono-, di- and tri-, fatty acid esters of glycerol (emulsifiers
for fats)
Monoalkyl esters of fatty acids, with an ester content of 96.5%vol or more
esters (FAMAE)

CN 38249091
CN 38260010
(since 2012)
CN 38260090

CN 271020xx

Biodiesel and mixtures thereof, not containing or containing less than 70


% by weight of petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals.
Diesel, fuel oil, oils, containing >=70% weight of petroleum oils or oils
obtained from bituminous minerals, containing biodiesel

Carbohydrates
CN 10xxxxxx

Grains / Cereals

CN 11xxxxxx

Products of the milling industry; malt; starches; inulin; wheat gluten

CN 121291xx
CN 12129300
CN 1213xxxx

Sugar beets
Sugar cane
Cereal straw and husks, unprepared, whether or not chopped, ground,
pressed
or in the form of pellets

CN 17xxxxxx

Sugars and sugar confectionery

CN 19xxxxxx

Preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk

CN 200410xx

Potatoes prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid,


frozen, other than products of heading 2006:
Potatoes prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid,
not frozen, other than products of heading 2006

CN 200520xx
CN 22071000
CN 22072000
CN 38249097

Undenatured ethyl alcohol of an alcoholic strength by volume of 80%vol


or higher
Ethyl alcohol and other spirits, denatured, of any strength
Other chemical compounds

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Appendix III Conversion factor for biomass


Woody biomass
Density (Own estimation)
Lower heating value a
Wood pellet
Wood chips
Waste wood and other
woods
Economic value b,c
Moisture content d
Air dry lumber
(roundwood, sawn
wood, wood
panels)
Paper and
cardboard
Wood pellet e, g
Wood chips f, g
Waste wood
Oils and fats
Density
FAME h
Lower heating value
FAME h
Economic value i
Moisture content
Carbohydrates
Density
Ethanol h
Lower heating value
Ethanol h
Economic value i
Moisture content

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
*

Value

Unit

0.7

kg/m3

17
12
12

MJ/kg

Change with time

$/kg

12 15 (Assumed 15%)

5 12 (Assumed 10%)
10 13 (Assumed 10%)
38 45 (Assumed 40%)
Assumed 30%
0.88

kg/litre

37.1
Change with time
Negligible *

MJ/kg
$/kg
%

0.79

kg/litre

26.7
Change with time
Moisture contents for crops are usually
high and vary with crops, seasons and also
reporting sources. This is described
together with the data in Table 5-1.
Moisture contents for other streams like
sugars are considered negligible.

MJ/kg
$/kg
%

Segers R, Personal communication with Reinoud Segers (Statistical Researcher at CBS).


Argus Biomass Markets (2013). http://www.argusmedia.com/Bioenergy/Argus-Biomass-Markets
[accessed 5 July 2013]
Index Mundi. Available at: http://www.indexmundi.com/
TIS (2013). Available at: http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/ware/inhaltx.htm [accessed 13 November
2013]
Samuelsson R, Larsson SH, Thyrel, M, Lestander TA (2012) Moisture content and storage time
influence the binding mechanisms in biofuel wood pellets. Applied Energy 99:109115.
Watson WF, Stevenson R (2007). The Effect of Seasonal Variation in Wood Moisture Content on Chip
Size
and
Kraft
Pulping.
Available
at:
http://www.tappi.org/Downloads/ConferencePapers/2007/07EPE/07EPE06.aspx [accessed 13 November 2013]
Hoefnagels R, Searcy E, Kara C, Cornelissen T, Junginger M; Jacobson J, Faaij A (2013)
Lignocellulosic feedstock supply systems with intermodal and overseas transportation. Submitted to
BioFPR.
EBTP
(2011).
EBTP
Biofuels
Fact
Sheets
2011.
Available
at:
ttp://www.biofuelstp.eu/fact_sheets.html [accessed 5 July 2013]
Platts (2013) BIOFUELSCAN. Available at: http://marketing2012.platts.com/content/BFGL2012Biofuels-Free-Trial?mvr=ppc&gclid=CL67z6vf1rQCFcNV3godsG0AZQ [accessed 5 July 2013]

UCO and animal fats are assumed to be pretreated before they were fed into biofuel production

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Appendix IV Global trade flows of biofuels 2008 - 2011


Biodiesel (Adapted from Lamers, 2013)

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Fuel Ethanol (Adapted from Lamers, 2013)

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7U

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